


Straight out of a romance movie and into the snow

by LittleRedbirdMcCall



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Tension, Awkwardness, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Ice Skating, Idiots in Love, Locked In, Love Confessions, M/M, McCall Pack, Meddling Lydia Martin, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Oblivious Stiles Stilinski, Pining Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Pining Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall Loves Stiles Stilinski, Secret Relationship, Sharing a Bed, Stiles Stilinski Is Bad at Feelings, Stiles Stilinski Loves Scott McCall, The Pack Doesn't Know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 17:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17084570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRedbirdMcCall/pseuds/LittleRedbirdMcCall
Summary: "Well," Stiles gives a little shrug, and Scott's only just realizing he still has a hand on his waist, even though they both know he's been able to stand up without slipping for a good few minutes now, "sometimes I like clichés. Especially the ones in those dumb movies, when they're in the snow and they have that kiss.""Oh?" is all Scott can say, his eyebrows going up slightly because suddenly every fantasy he's ever had about kissing Stiles in the snow is appearing right back in the front of his mind, making them hard to ignore.





	Straight out of a romance movie and into the snow

**Author's Note:**

> Secret Santa Gift for @scottstiles! <3

Winter in Beacon Hills always brings a buzz of excitement and joy, accompanied by the snow covering every inch of the little town, all lit up by the lights strung up through the streets. Scott's always loved this time of year.

Part of that might have something to do with Stiles climbing in through his bedroom window while the sky's still dark to drag him outside into the snow. There's just something about how red his nose and hands get, and how bright his grin is as he inevitably starts a snowball fight with him. Not to mention how they almost always end up curled up in a heap of blankets together, trying to warm back up.

But there's also something nice and comforting about going to the little diner in the middle of town while snow's falling outside. The red and blue lights are warm, combining into a soft purple and giving the whole place a cozy feeling. Especially when Scott sits at the booth next to the window, right in the middle of the diner so that he can look out at the people passing by and all the snow. Everything's just—

"Okay, one hot chocolate with whipped cream and an insane amount of marshmallows for one sweet as sugar werewolf." 

Scott turns away from the window to raise an eyebrow at Stiles, his lips twitching at the corners. Stiles just grins right back at him as he slips into his seat across from him and slides the mug over the table, keeping a hold on the other one.

"Thanks, dude," Scott says, and just wraps his hands around it, letting the warmth heat them up. Another thing he loves about winter. Hot chocolate somehow manages to taste and feel better when there's snow everywhere and the temperature's dropped about twenty degrees.

"Anything for you, buddy," Stiles says, and winks before taking a drink of his own hot chocolate. 

Scott shakes his head but he can't help but smile as his face heats up, the warmth spreading across his skin until it feels like it's seeping into his limbs.

It's something he's gotten used to at this point. Not just that but the feelings as well; the swooping in his stomach every time Stiles makes one of his jokes, or gets unnecessarily close then pulls away laughing, or even just when he sends Scott that happy little smile. The one that he doesn't see that often anymore, not with everything that's been going on. 

He takes a drink from his mug, glancing back at the window but keeping his hearing tuned in to what Lydia's now saying. Something about the holidays and how much less cheerful it all seems this year. Well, for the past few years. Since Beacon Hills started once again inhabiting a bunch of supernatural creatures.

He has to silently agree. Even though watching the snow fall and join the blanket of it that's already covering the ground feels so familiar and, in a strange way, comforting, it's not the same. The atmosphere of the entire town's changed. Even if a lot of its residents don't seem to fully realize it. 

"It would just be nice to actually enjoy ourselves for once," Lydia says, adding a little shrug as she glances around at them all before looking down at her own mug of hot chocolate. "It's the first time in three years that we aren't dealing with any sort of supernatural problem, and yet here we are, still not enjoying any part of winter." 

"Hey, we're drinking hot chocolate in a diner and wearing gloves and—" Stiles waves a hand at Lydia, "—scarves, I guess. That's good enough for me seeing as how last winter we were trying to come up with a plan to stop a bunch of psychotic hunters from killing innocent teenagers and nearly resulted in all of our deaths." 

Scott's stomach gives an involuntary spasm; just a little twist, a reminder of everything that happened last year. And the years before that.

"Stiles is right," he says, shifting his gaze between them all. "Being here, it's... it's the happiest we've all been in a while. Even if things aren't exactly the same as they used to be, it doesn't mean we aren't having fun. Just... a different kind." 

"Yeah," Stiles agrees, waving a hand vaguely in the air now, "it's not like there's nothing to do in town. I'm sure there's somewhere fun around here. We could..." he pauses, glancing around the table as he seems to try and think of something, "well, there's the ice rink. Or there's bowling! And the movies, and the lacrosse field is covered in snow, so—" 

"What about skiing?" Allison cuts in, her eyebrows raising slightly. They all look at her and she quickly continues, "my family owns a cabin sort of lodge thing up at a ski resort. It's only about three-hundred miles from here, and I could ask my dad if it's okay." 

"A ski resort," Stiles repeats thoughtfully. 

She nods. "Yeah, my whole family used to go for holidays. Minus Gerard, of course. He was always busy. But I just thought it could be fun. There's a lot to do up there, and the cabin is really nice and probably big enough for the whole pack now that I think about it. If we were to double up and share rooms, that is."

Scott considers it. As much as he loves Beacon Hills during the winter, a weekend away definitely sounds appealing. It would be a break from everything, every little reminder the town decides to throw at them. And they wouldn't really have to worry about things as much.

Stiles and Lydia seem to be thinking the same thing, judging by the glances they both throw around the table as Scott makes up his mind. But he also knows that his answer depends at least a little on Stiles'; they've always spent winter together, and the thought of leaving Beacon Hills without him, even for a weekend, doesn't sit right with him at all. 

He remembers he even convinced his dad to let him bring Stiles along when he was supposed to be staying with him for a few weeks. They had way more fun than Scott had had the last few times he stayed with him, and there were snowballs thrown everywhere. It would just feel wrong to go without Stiles.

"That actually sounds like a pretty good idea," Stiles says, the first to speak. "I mean, we would be getting out of Beacon Hills, which—really, you had me sold at that. But also, it's a freaking ski resort, come on! How can we say no to that?" 

Scott smiles. "We can't," he says, glad that Stiles is on board. "We should do it." 

He turns his head to look at Lydia as she stares into her mug, a thoughtful, almost concentrated look on her face. Then she sighs and lifts her head, glancing at them all once again. She gives a little nod. 

"Okay, let's do it." Her lips twitch up at the corners. "It can't be any worse than staying in Beacon Hills for the rest of winter." 

"That's the spirit!" Stiles cheers, maybe a little too loudly if the glare it earns him from a girl sitting at the counter is anything to go on. He just grins and takes a drink of his hot chocolate, his eyes practically sparkling with excitement and, unfortunately, mischief. 

Scott can't help but let his own smile widen a little, and his gaze shifts back to the still-falling snow outside. His mug's still warm in his hands and the feeling spreads through him yet again, just for a different reason this time as he thinks about how this plan of theirs could go. 

He tries not to let his mind wander too far into all the opportunities it might give him to spend even more time with Stiles. It's just a weekend—maybe a little longer—away from everything. It's a break, a chance to relax and fully enjoy winter and this time of year like normal teenagers.

\-------------------------------

After seven long hours on the road, Stiles finally is able to stop the jeep and turn the key, shutting the engine off. The poor thing sounds like it needs a year-long rest now.

It might have been less had the snow not decided to turn into what Stiles was calling a blizzard at one point, making them have to slow down and drive a little more carefully. Stiles is just glad that his jeep is made for all terrains, or else there's a good chance they would have gotten stuck at least twice. Although, he still really doesn't understand how Allison's car or Jackson's Porsche didn't either. 

In fact, he's still trying to figure out why Jackson agreed to come along at all, or why anyone would even invite him. He's just glad he wasn't forced to sit in a car with him for seven hours. He's got a good feeling he'll be spending most of the weekend with Scott anyway.

Stiles glances out the windscreen, seeing Lydia already climbing out of Allison's car. He's become aware that she's really not a fan of long drives or being stuck in a car for over two hours. He turns to look at Scott, sitting next to him in the passenger side.

His head's leaned against the window, his eyes still closed. Stiles can't help the smile that spreads across his face at how peaceful he looks. But he knows better than that, and he knows that Scott's probably already feeling the starting effects of the full moon. 

Usually, they wouldn't have gone anywhere when the full moon's only two days away and it'll mean spending it somewhere other than Beacon Hills. But it was the only weekend they could go and Scott, along with the rest of the wolves, said it would be fine. They've all got enough of a handle on the shift at this point. 

Still, Stiles can't help but feel bad about it, especially when Scott started trying to force himself to stay awake three hours ago. Obviously, he didn't succeed.

He spots Lydia, Allison, Kira, and Malia waiting outside, standing just a little away from the jeep now as they appear to be talking about something. Isaac and Jackson are already joining them, bags over their shoulders and clearly waiting to go.

Even they look like they're on the verge of falling asleep, although Stiles thinks that may have more to do with the fact that it's now around ten at night and they've been driving since two. It's a good thing they stopped a few hours back to get something to eat and fill up the gas, or else Stiles is pretty sure he, Allison, and Jackson would all have fallen asleep behind the wheel.

He looks back over at Scott again and sighs quietly. Waking him up really is the last thing he wants to do right now. 

He hesitates for a second or two, then he reaches out and rests his hand on Scott's shoulder, pretending he didn't nearly reach up to push away the little curl on his forehead that's somehow gotten itself away from the rest of his hair.

"Hey, buddy." He gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze and Scott's eyes blink open, slow and unfocused. "We're here. And we should probably hurry and catch up with those guys before they steal all the good rooms. Allison was saying that one of them doesn't have a tv, and I am not willing to risk not being able to catch up on that vampire show while we're here."

Scott turns his head to look at him now as he sits up a little straighter. He rubs a hand over his eyes and nods slowly. Stiles just gives him a few seconds to wake up properly, still rubbing his hand over his shoulder, just enough for him not to pay much attention to it. 

"Yeah, okay," Scott says as he blinks a few more times, clearing away the last little trace of the exhaustion that the full moon's causing him. He glances out the window. "We should go then. Before the snow gets worse."

Stiles nods in agreement—not that Scott's even looking at him now for him to see it. He drops his hand from his shoulder and finally lets go of the steering wheel. 

"Great. Yeah, let's go. Out into the mountain of snow. Before it gets worse, because wouldn't that be fantastic?" 

Scott raises his eyebrows at him but his features are still a little softer than usual so all it does is make Stiles bite the inside of his cheek in an attempt not to smile too fondly at him. 

Within a few minutes, they're out of the jeep as well and joining the rest of their friends, the cold air biting at Stiles' skin even with the warmest jacket he owns wrapped around him. Apparently, Twilight's take on werewolves and them basically being walking heaters isn't at all accurate, because even Scott's shivering, his hands tucked into his pockets and looking like he's trying to hide in the collar of his jacket. 

It would be adorable if Stiles wasn't worried they're all going to catch pneumonia before they even get to this lodge. 

He just moves a little closer to Scott as Allison starts showing them the way seeing as how there's only so far they could drive and had to stop in the resort's car park a little way back. Apparently private means  _private,_ which includes no actual accessible road straight to it. Many horror movies come to Stiles' mind, but he tries not to think about that.

He continues to stick as close to Scott as he physically can while they walk, and he's pretty sure Scott notices since he glances at him at the same time as Stiles looks at him. He doesn't say anything though; he actually bumps his shoulder and sends him a little smile. 

Stiles can't help but smile back, even with his teeth clattering together as it continues to snow all around them. He attempts to push down the little voice in the back of his head reminding him that kissing Scott in the snow is something he's thought about before. Many times, especially during all of the snowball fights that always, _always_  lead to them wrestling in the snow and Scott pinning him down.

But he's never been that great at ignoring himself, so he opts for looking away from Scott instead. If he's going to think about kissing him, he'd really rather not be staring at him while he's doing it. He's not that great at hiding things from Scott.

Thankfully, he doesn't have to worry. They finally reach the lodge, and it's only when they stop walking that he glances around and realizes that they can see what he's assuming is the resort, just a little away from them but far enough out that the lodge itself is still technically private. 

He has to admit, it's not what he was expecting. When Allison was describing the lodge, she used the word "cabin" a couple times and said it's pretty cozy, so naturally, he was expecting one of those ones you see on tv; small but just big enough for whoever's there.

Instead, they're standing in front of one of those huge wooden ones that definitely has stairs and a little sheltered porch, and he's pretty sure that when he glances up, he can see a balcony leading off to a little area somewhere on the roof. Not quite the type of lodge he was expecting.

"This is it," Allison says, giving them a smile before walking over to the door.

She shoves a hand in her pocket, the tell-tale jingling of keys following, then she unlocks the door and walks in. The rest of them quickly follow, stepping right into the dark. Although, it's certainly a welcome change from the cold outside, even if it's not all that warm inside either.

Before any of their eyes can adjust to the darkness, Allison makes her way over to one of the walls, then suddenly the lights are on, lighting up pretty much the entire first floor as far as Stiles can see. 

His eyes dart around, quickly taking everything in. Everyone seems to be doing the same thing as Allison just smiles again and sets the keys down on a little wooden table near the door before wandering down the tiny stairs leading into what looks like a lounge type of area. 

Once again, they all follow, although Stiles isn't paying much attention to what Allison's saying. He's too busy nudging Scott, getting him to look up at the balcony, because of course there's a freaking balcony inside of the lodge as well.

"Okay, we are absolutely exploring every inch of this place later," he says, keeping his voice low. "I wonder if we can uncover any more family secrets. Maybe Gerard was keeping a werewolf up in the attic. Wait, do lodges have attics?" 

"Probably not," Scott says, and Stiles huffs. "But that doesn't mean we can't still explore. There's probably a lot of places around here that no one knows about. Did you see the size of the resort?" 

"Alright, that's true." Stiles' mouth curves up in a grin and he glances over at the rest of their friends, now settling into the lounge area, setting their bags on the floor or the couches. "But that means we might have to sneak away from them. You up for that?" 

He turns his head to look at Scott and catches him already staring, a smile on his lips that makes Stiles' heart jump a beat that it definitely wasn't supposed to. 

"With you? Always, dude. But—" he brings a hand up to Stiles' shoulder, already turning as he gives him a gentle little push, "—we're spending time with our friends before you make us ditch them. That's the whole point of being here." 

"Okay, no," Stiles says as he allows Scott to guide him further into the lodge, joining said friends. "The whole point of being here is to relax and have fun. Away from all of the supernatural-ness and the death and the—you get the point." 

"I do." Scott grins at him. "And the point is that we're here to spend time with our friends." 

Stiles just stares at him, his eyes narrowing more and more by the second. Scott doesn't waver even for a second; he even bites his lip, his head tilting a little like he's just waiting for him to argue. 

"Alright, fine," Stiles breaks. He quickly points a finger at him as Scott goes to turn away from him. "But tomorrow, we're exploring every inch of that big-ass resort up there. I looked them up and apparently, they have a hot tub. Could be some deep, dark secrets to uncover in there." 

Scott just shoots him an amused look and Stiles knows it's likely he's going to get roped into delaying the exploring so that they can spend a few hours with everyone else, but it'll be worth it. Some alone time with Scott is always worth it. 

They finally join their friends, apparently right in the middle of a conversation. 

"It's really nice, I promise. But I guess it is sort of late," Allison says, glancing over at the window. "We should probably wait until tomorrow to go up to the resort. It'll give us time to settle in anyway."

Everyone seems to agree, including Stiles as he takes a seat on the arm of the nearest couch, Scott leaning against the back of it. He can't help but glance at him, even if it's maybe a little too obvious. 

Scott doesn't even notice, his eyes on Allison as she seems to be trying to open the little gate in front of the fire. It gives Stiles the chance to see the slightly unfocused, sort of almost glazed look in his eyes that he just knows is because of the full moon being so close. He's gotten used to noticing that and all of the other little signs of it. At least, he's trying harder now to pay more attention to those things. 

Which is why he's definitely in agreement that doing anything other than settling in, as Allison put it, is off the board. 

"In that case," Jackson says, straightening up from where he had been leaning against the wall, "I'm going to go and find these bedrooms. You lot have fun bonding or whatever. I'll be looking for a working tv." 

He picks up his bag, swinging it over his shoulder, and heads for the stairs as Stiles rolls his eyes. Isaac's quick to follow him, saying something about not wanting to let him take the best room.

"Why did you invite him again?" he asks, directing the question at Allison, sure that Jackson's out of sight. "Seriously, what could possibly have made you think that Jackson Whittemore and a nice, relaxing, fun weekend away from everything bad are two things that go together? Because I can guarantee you that they're not."

Allison just shoots him a look over her shoulder that's scarily like the one that Scott gives him every time he says something like that about either Jackson or Derek. Or any of their friends, really. Even if he always means it in a light-hearted, mostly-joking-but-not-really type of way.

She doesn't get a chance to actually say anything though or argue her reasoning for inviting Jackson as Kira finally manages to get the fire to work, much to everyone's appreciation. It doesn't immediately warm the room up, but it does make it  _look_  warmer.

Stiles shifts a little closer to it, still half-sitting on the arm of the couch and keeping his hands tucked away in the sleeves of his jacket. Scott moves past him, catching his attention as he brushes his shoulder on the way. 

"Hey, check it out," he says, and stops just in front of the window. He turns back around, looking at Stiles as a grin tugs at his lips. "It's a bay window. We always wanted one of these, remember?" 

Stiles just knows his face light up as he realizes Scott's right and briefly wonders why it wasn't the first thing he noticed upon walking in. He doesn't dwell on it too much though, seeing as how he's too busy getting up and moving over to join Scott as he takes a seat on the cushioned area in front of the window. 

"Yeah, I remember," Stiles says, unable to keep the smile off his face. "Because we watched that show where they always sat in one to talk about everything." He pauses, his head tilting. "I'm pretty sure we tried to turn the window in your living room into one. I don't recall that working out very well." 

"It didn't," Scott confirms, "but we did end up turning it into a fort instead." 

"Ah, yes. The fort that we refused to come out of when your mom came home from work. I'm seriously surprised she let us stay in there all night," 

Scott makes a noise of agreement and Stiles goes to sit down beside him. As he does, Jackson walks back in, Isaac following yet again, but neither of them looking all that happy or settled in. 

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this—although, considering it's your family's lodge, you probably should be—" Allison's eyebrows draw together, glancing around the room before moving back to Jackson as he continues, "but there are more people here than there are rooms." 

Her eyes widen a little and look of relief crosses her face, clearly glad that there isn't really some supernatural thing going on with her family's holiday getaway that she didn't know about.

Stiles can't help but smirk out of amusement as he sits down, exchanging a glance with Scott as they both already know what's coming. They forgot that Allison never told the rest of them about the room situation.

"I know," she says, "which is why I was thinking we could pair up. It's not like most of us haven't shared a room anyway, so—"

"Okay, but you do realize that there's only one bed in every single one of the rooms, right?" Isaac chimes in, his arms crossed. "That means sharing a bed as well. That's a little different to just sharing a room."

That's something that Allison apparently forgot to inform them all of. Not that it changes anything. Not really. Stiles already knows that he'll be sharing with Scott since that's just always how it works, and they've shared a bed plenty of times during all of their sleepovers. It's not a big deal. 

He can't help but glance at Scott again though. His mind's already coming up with all of the ways sharing a bed with him for three nights could go horribly wrong and embarrassingly for himself, while the more optimistic and blinded by feelings part of his mind is thinking up the better, more interesting ways it could go.

He's just glad Scott's too wrapped up in watching the rest of the discussion about the bedroom situation unfold to notice his gaze lingering maybe a little longer than it should.

"Okay, five rooms and eight people," Lydia says, following it up with a casual little shrug. "It's simple. Two people get a room of their own and the rest of us double up." 

"I'm not sharing with anyone," Jackson says, leaving pretty much no room for argument. 

"Neither am I," Malia and Isaac say almost simultaneously. 

There are at least two groans throughout the room. 

Stiles just rolls his eyes again and goes to turn back to the window, already knowing this could be a long conversation seeing as how the three people who all want a room to themselves are possibly the most stubborn people alive. If anyone's likely to give in, it'll be Isaac. 

He stops halfway as Scott turns his head to look at him. He sends him an amused smile that Stiles understands perfectly and returns. At least they don't have to deal with figuring out who they're sharing with. They have each other.

\------------------------

They spend another hour or two downstairs—Jackson was going to go back up after agreeing to share with Lydia, seeing as how they're on better terms now, they're more comfortable with each other, but Allison convinced them all to stay for a little while longer with the promise of hot chocolate.

Turns out, when she asked her dad about using the lodge for the weekend, he thought it would be a good idea to get someone to stock it up with food. And apparently a lot of hot chocolate and coffee.

It's only once Kira starts yawning that the rest of them follow and end up deciding it's time to call it a night. They head off to their respective rooms, Isaac and Malia both the epitome of smug as they go into their rooms alone. 

It doesn't bother Scott as he follows Stiles—who rolls his eyes at the two of them—into the room they'll be sharing for the rest of the weekend. In all honesty, he's glad he's sharing. There's something about strange places and being alone in them that sets him on edge and makes it harder to fall asleep as easily. 

At least with Stiles, there's that comfort of familiarity. He does remind himself though that it's been a while since they've actually shared a bed; supernatural drama tends to take priority over sleepovers these days. Even so, it's not like it'll be a problem. He has a handle on his feelings by now. 

"Oh my god," Stiles says as Scott closes the door behind them. "This thing is so comfortable."

He turns to find Stiles already jumping onto the bed, sprawling across it like a starfish. It's not the first time Scott's been able to make that comparison, and yet, usually, there's no room left in the bed when he does. This time, it looks like two other people could fit on it without even needing to curl up as much as possible. 

Scott laughs lightly and moves over to join him, setting his bag on the bed. "Well, Allison did say that Gerard wanted this place to be like a luxury home sort of thing for the holidays." 

Stiles' face scrunches. "You don't think this was his room, right? I mean, he had to have had a room. And a bed. He seems like a guy who would want a nice bed."

Scott pauses, his eyes now moving around the room. His head tilts a little as he thinks about it and Stiles clearly notices the look of doubt because he makes a noise that sounds like disgust and quickly sits up, pretending to shudder and shake himself off. 

"Well, this officially got way more creepy and horrifying," Stiles says, but makes no move to actually get off the bed. "At least Allison said he was barely ever here. Unless this was Kate's room. Or Argent's. Which means that—Okay, yeah, I'm gonna stop thinking about this now and just... enjoy the nice bed."

"Probably for the best, dude." Scott gestures his head at the door that he already knows leads to a bathroom thanks to Allison explaining that all of the bedrooms have one. "I'll be back in a minute."

Stiles just nods then flops back down, and Scott heads into the bathroom. He comes back out a minute or two later, changed out of his snow-damp clothes and into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, to find Stiles the same way and already burying himself under the thick cover on the bed. 

Scott finally joins him, slipping under the covers with a surprising lack of worry that he's going to slip up or make things awkward. Maybe it's just because they've shared beds much smaller than this one many times before and it's been okay.

They've had everything memorized since they started having sleepovers; the perfect position to lie in so that Scott doesn't end up with a sharp elbow to the face and Stiles doesn't end up halfway out of the bed from the both of them moving around so much. It happened a lot when they were younger but at around eight, they had it figured out. 

Which is why when Stiles starts shifting around, facing away from Scott but moving enough to catch his attention despite being on the other side of the bed, Scott takes it as one of their unspoken signals and moves closer to him. Stiles presses back into him like he always does, and Scott can't help but smile a little. It's not like Stiles can see him anyway. 

"So, what do you think we should do tomorrow?" Stiles asks, his voice surprisingly quiet. 

Scott hums as he thinks and Stiles rolls over to face him. All it does is bring them a few inches apart and Scott's mind momentarily short circuits as he sucks in a breath as discreetly as possible, hoping that Stiles can't feel his heart suddenly beating that little bit faster. 

Before Scott can answer his question, Stiles is already pressing on. "I have to say, as nice as skiing at a ski resort sounds, the hot tub sounds a lot more appealing. Or maybe the spa. Anything that doesn't involve spending more than five minutes out in that icy hell." 

"It's not that bad," Scott says, but even he doesn't entirely enjoy the thought of going back out into the cold. He's only just started to warm up again. "But I'm sure the resort has lots of stuff to do inside if you really don't want to. Unless that means you're not planning on leaving here either? We do have to walk up to the resort after all." 

Stiles waves it off as he pulls the cover a little further up. "I can handle a five-minute walk. But if I have to stand around in the snow for hours to ski, there's a good chance I'll catch something and that won't be fun for anyone." 

Scott rolls his eyes and Stiles' lips twitch slightly at the corners. 

"Why don't we wait until tomorrow morning and see what everyone else is doing?" Scott suggests. "It'll be easier to decide then. And either way, it'll give us a chance to look around the resort. We might as well make the most of the three days we're here." 

"That's actually not a bad idea," Stiles says, almost reluctantly. 

Scott makes a noise that's somewhere between a laugh and a scoff, just without the bite. "I do have good ideas, you know. You just never listen to them." 

"Hey, not true," Stiles protests with a smile, lightly shoving Scott's shoulder. "I do listen. I just..." His hand lingers on Scott's shoulder, his fingers moving down a little to play with the hem of his short sleeve. "You know, I prefer to try out my ideas first. Then yours." 

"I know, dude. I get it," Scott says. He knows that it's part of Stiles' need to have a sense of control over  _something_ , to feel like he can actually do something instead of having no choice over things. It doesn't entirely make sense, but Scott understands. 

They fall into silence but it's comfortable and familiar. Scott lets his eyes wander over Stiles' face seeing as how he's more focused on Scott's shirt, his fingers brushing over his arm every now and then.

They've been like this for as long as Scott can remember. Touching each other at every opportunity, even if it's just Stiles swinging his arm around Scott's shoulders or Scott nudging Stiles' leg to get his attention for something. 

But these touches; the soft ones, sometimes just fingertips trailing along arms, like Stiles is doing now. Scott's noticed that they seem to be reserved for moments like these, when it's just the two of them. Almost like a secret shared just between them.

Scott smiles, his heart jumping a beat or two at the thought and the warm feeling it leaves in his stomach. That feeling only grows and spreads when he brings his focus back to Stiles and realizes his eyes are closed, his lips slightly parted as he takes a quiet breath in, then back out.

Scott pauses, listening to Stiles' heart beating away in a steady, almost soothing rhythm. He can feel it from how close they are and at where Stiles' hand is now resting on his arm, the skin underneath it warm and almost tingly. 

He slips his arm underneath Stiles' as carefully as possible and let his own fingers brush over the top of it, going back and forth, keeping his touch light so as not to wake him. Then he stops, but he leaves his hand on Stiles' arm, resisting the temptation to move it to his side instead. It wouldn't be the first time, but usually, Stiles is facing the other away and Scott just really doesn't want to wake him up. He looks too peaceful. 

Instead, he looks at him for another second or three, then he lets his own eyes close, completely content as he already feels himself starting to drift off, the exhaustion hitting him all over again. 

\----------------------------

Everyone's mood is completely different the next day at breakfast in the resort. Despite the walk from the lodge being just as cold as yesterday, and the snow still coming down, Scott notices that everyone's... happier, somehow. Even with the full moon being tomorrow.

It's almost like being away from Beacon Hills is already starting to have an effect on them all. Even Jackson's joking around with a little less of his usual snark, actually laughing at something Malia says that doesn't involve murder or eating people. 

"—No way," Stiles says around a mouthful of pancakes. He swallows, waving his fork around as he looks across the table at Kira. "I refuse to believe that you actually think Quicksilver is faster than Flash." 

"Quicksilver's fastest speed is around Mach 5!" Kira argues. "The Flash could never beat that."

"His title is literally the fastest man alive!"

"And Quicksilver has the word _quick_ in his name."

Stiles makes an exasperated noise, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling, and Scott can't help but smile at him. They've been at this for the past ten minutes, but he seems to be the only one listening to either of them, everyone else wrapped up in their own conversations. 

"Okay, back me up here," Stiles says, now turning to Scott and catching him by surprise. "You agree with me, right? The Flash—whether it be Barry or Wally, hell, even Jay—is absolutely faster than Quicksilver and will always be."

Scott's eyes widen a little as he glances between the two of them, both of them now staring at him expectantly. He gives a one-shouldered shrug. "Sorry, dude. I think they're probably about as fast as each other."

Stiles gapes at him in disbelief before the words are even completely out of his mouth. "Seriously? You're going all Switzerland on me here?" He doesn't give Scott the chance to answer either way as he slowly shakes his head, scoffing in a way that has absolutely no bite to it whatsoever. "Unbelievable. Even my best friend's betraying me." 

"You are so dramatic," Lydia cuts in, her chin leaning on her hand, the other using her fork to move her food around her plate, apparently not that interested in it anymore. 

"I'm a good amount of dramatic, thank you very much." 

Lydia simply raises her eyebrows and Scott snickers, quickly focusing his attention on his own plate as Stiles rolls his eyes. 

"Anyway," Lydia straightens up a little, glancing around the entire table now.

That one word somehow manages to draw everyone's attention in and Scott can't help but wonder if it's a banshee thing they don't know about or if everyone's just so used to listening to her when she says anything. Either way, it's effective. 

"What are the plans for today? I mean, surely we're not just here to sit around in the lodge all day." She turns her gaze on Allison, waving her fork slightly. "No offense, it's lovely, but I'm here to have fun, and my definition of fun is doing things that aren't going to bore me to death." 

Scott glances at Stiles, their eyes meeting, and he raises his eyebrows in question. He knows they talked about heading off to explore the resort and the lodge, but he just wants to double check. And just as he was expecting, Stiles shoots him a look that he's definitely become way too familiar with over the years. Weirdly enough, nine times out of ten, it always leads to them getting caught doing something they shouldn't be or being somewhere they shouldn't.

The fact that the Sheriff isn't here to catch them in the middle of doing something that's most likely breaking a few laws isn't exactly reassuring to him. If anything, it's even more worrying. 

Stiles nudges his leg under the table, then he's interrupting Isaac in the middle of saying something about the cold and possibly live music. 

"Well, Scott and I won't be seeing any of you for a good few hours," he says, and Scott can't help but think that he sounds a little too happy about that. He spears a piece of pancake with his fork then pauses to add, "we already have plans," as if that weren't already obvious, a half-grin, half-smirk on his lips. 

"That is a surprise to literally none of us," Isaac says, earning him a glare from Stiles. "Seriously _, 'plans'_? Look, if you two want to go make out, go for it. But you don't need to be all secretive about it." 

Scott's stomach flips as his eyes widen slightly, quickly moving from Isaac to Stiles. Then he's ducking his head, trying to hide the smile that's forcing his mouth to curve up. It's not like it's the first time someone's thought that―or at least joked about it. 

Stiles, on the other hand, just narrows his eyes at Isaac. He doesn't say anything, just eats the piece of pancake still on his fork. Scott can't help but let that little part of him think that him staying quiet means something, even if he knows it doesn't. Wishful thinking has never hurt anyone. 

"In that case," Stiles turns to Scott, and his heartbeat spikes through the roof, his eyebrows raising as he wonders where Stiles is going with this. He gestures his head to the side. "You ready to go? I saw something on the way up here that could be interesting. Probably needs investigating." 

Scott lets that tiny bit of relief wash over him, breathing it out as he rolls his eyes. "You do realize that we're not the Mystery Gang, right?" 

"Okay, I will say it again, they are the Scooby Gang and you can pry that name from my cold dead hands. And yes, I do, now come help me look for dark secrets that the owners of this place are trying to hide." Stiles pauses, then apparently gives in at least a little as he adds, "or at least check out the events and things going on."

Scott grins, unable to help himself as he shakes his head. Then he's finishing his glass of orange juice, already done with his breakfast, and stands up. Stiles quickly follows, grinning brightly as he simply winks at their friends, having caught their attention. 

"Well, we're off then," Stiles says, swinging his arm over Scott's shoulders. "We'll see you... sometime. Have fun!"

"We'll see you at lunch," Scott corrects as Stiles already starts to walk away, pulling him along with him. He turns to Stiles as he seems to lead them in the direction of one of the doors leading out of the room and into one of the many hallways. "Where exactly are we going?" 

Stiles continues to grin as they walk through the doors. "Well, I happened to notice a little sign on the way up here, and I remembered that there's a particular activity you vowed to never do ever again. And I thought, seeing as how—" 

"I'm not bowling." 

Stiles' shoulders slump and he makes a noise of exasperation. "I wasn't talking about bowling! Although, I did see something about that earlier." 

Scott just stares at him and he rolls his eyes. 

"Alright, no bowling. I actually meant ice skating." He pauses, his head tilting a little to the side as he looks at Scott. "Unless you're not feeling up for that. You know, because of your furry little problem. In which case, I saw something on their website talking about dogsledding. Now, I'm not suggesting we do that, but I am, however, suggesting we go look at the dogs because apparently, that's something you're allowed to do and—"

"Stiles, I feel fine. Let's go with ice skating," Scott says, smiling. "Then we can go see the dogs. We have pretty much all day, remember?" 

Stiles nods and Scott can feel him relax a little at him assuring him he's okay. He's noticed him doing that a lot more recently; worrying more when the full moon's close, checking in with him to see if he's okay, how it's affecting him. He's also noticed that he has the moon cycle pretty much memorized by this point, not even needing to consult with one of them or a calendar to know when the next full moon is. It's actually sort of comforting. 

"Okay," Stiles says, a grin sliding back across his face. "Ice skating it is. Let's see if you've improved any since the last time we went or if you're going to go flying head first into the barrier again." 

Scott rolls his eyes but he can't help but huff out a laugh. "I was distracted, okay? And—besides, you weren't any better." 

Stiles makes a face then shrugs, his arm still around Scott's shoulders as they turn one of the corners, passing a sign saying something about a movie night.  _This resort really does have a lot going on_ , Scott thinks before his attention's pulled back to Stiles. 

"Well, we can help each other then. You know," he waves his other hand vaguely in the air, "if we lose our balance or something. Just to prevent any more head-on collisions." 

"You're never letting that go, are you?"

"Absolutely not." Stiles turns his head to looks at him, raising his eyebrows. "So. Deal?" 

Scott's smile widens and he gives a little nod. "Yeah, deal." 

Stiles moves his hand to squeeze Scott's shoulder, then he's dropping his arm completely, leaving Scott's shoulder tingling slightly and sending that familiar tight feeling into the pit of his stomach. But then his hand's right back on his shoulder, just the other one this time as he gives him a little push, getting him to turn another corner as he starts going on about one of the other activities. 

Scott just smiles as he listens. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he's thinking of all the ways that a good majority of the activities Stiles has already suggested could go. Stiles offering for them to help each other out is stuck in his head and is definitely conjuring up way too many different scenarios for him to deal with right now. 

Thankfully, it doesn't take long before those thoughts are pushed out of his mind completely as Stiles switches subjects. His hand's still on Scott's shoulder, despite it really not needing to be; Scott's pretty sure he knows where the ice rink is, having passed it at least three times already on the way from the lodge to the resort.

Still, he's not complaining. 

Just like how he's not complaining once they finally reach the ice rink outside. In fact, it's Stiles who's complaining then. 

"You know what," he waves his hands, covered by the blue gloves that Scott thinks look way too familiar to be Stiles', "I take it back. Let's do something else. Like... I don't know, go to... the indoor gym? Or the spa—yeah, the spa works. I think I heard Lydia saying she was gonna check it out with Jackson and Isaac, so maybe we should just head back in and meet them?" 

Scott stares at him, his lips twitching up as he raises his eyebrows. "The spa?" 

"Yeah, you know," Stiles waves his hand again, a little vaguer this time as he falters just a little under Scott's gaze, "the spa. Inside. Where it's warm and not snowing." 

"You do remember that this was your idea, right?" Scott asks, stepping towards him, his amusement growing. "I suggested we find something to do inside because you were complaining about the cold last night. Remember?" 

Stiles rolls his eyes and sighs, drawing it out a little longer than necessary. "Yeah, I know. But—" 

"And you were the one who dragged us away from everyone else to do this," Scott cuts him off, grinning. "Remember?"

Stiles huffs and Scott can actually see it in front of him, the cold turning the tiny puff of breath into a little icy cloud that disappears as soon as it forms. It's definitely cold and he'll admit he would absolutely have preferred to do something inside the resort. But at the same time... he still loves the snow, even when he's not in Beacon Hills. 

Plus, even with the scarf wrapped around his neck and a hat on, Stiles' nose and ears are already red and as much as Scott's trying not to, he still finds it incredibly cute. 

"Alright, yeah, okay," Stiles says, caving. He quickly points a finger at Scott and adds, "but only for an hour. I'm already regretting this. Why didn't I just suggest staying at breakfast?" 

"Because you want to go ice skating," Scott says, and Stiles just gives another little huff, not able to argue seeing as how they both know it's true. He was pretending it was because Scott vowed to never do it again―something he had said in the heat of the moment after the last time they went—but Scott knows he's excited. Even if he's freezing.

He takes Stiles' wrist, a part of him glad that they're both wearing gloves so that he doesn't have to feel that little warm, tingling spark type of feeling he gets whenever he touches him. He's always thought that was just a cheesy thing people say when they're in love, an exaggeration, but apparently, they were right. 

"Come on," he says, smiling, "we promised to help each other. And if that includes me having to drag your ass onto that ice because you're scared of the cold, then I will. After all, what are friends for?" 

Stiles' eyes narrow, but then his mouth is curving up and he's rolling his eyes again. "Fine. But only because I don't want you to waste all your wolfy energy on me when you basically have none left as it is." 

"How thoughtful of you," Scott says, only half-joking.

It earns him a grin from Stiles, and he's the one rolling his eyes this time as he lets go of his wrist in favour of giving him a light push in the direction of the opening to the ice skating area, their skates already on. Stiles makes a noise that Scott thinks is him trying to protest, but he still moves all the same. 

Scott watches in amusement as Stiles carefully slides his way onto the ice, joining all of the other people already there, skating around. He keeps a hold on the barrier next to him, then he turns back around to face Scott. 

"Come on then." He reaches his hand out, offering it to him. "There is no way I'm doing this by myself. Not when you just said that you were going to drag my ass onto the ice. Besides, this is us helping each other out, so just think of it as preventing any injuries before they can happen, which they most definitely will if you don't take my hand." 

Scott raises his eyebrows, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face, probably making himself look like a complete idiot. Still, he rolls his eyes and slips his hand into Stiles', immediately feeling him squeeze just a little as he pulls him onto the ice with him. 

"I feel like you're just looking for an excuse to hold my hand," Scott jokes as Stiles begins moving backwards, slow and cautious. "You just had to ask, dude." 

"I know," Stiles says, giving a little shrug, his lips twitching up at the corners. "But that's not what I'm doing. This is absolutely, one-hundred-percent just to avoid any accidents. Like we agreed." 

Scott can't help but pick up on the slight jump in Stiles' heartbeat. He ignores it, putting it down to the cold, even if he doesn't entirely believe it or Stiles' excuse for being so insistent on holding his hand. He blames the tiny little hopeful part of himself for that.

"Okay," he says, still smiling. "But you do know that we actually have to be... you know, skating for that to be true, right? Otherwise, we're just slowly gliding along the ice, and I know we've established that we suck at this, but I don't think even we could injure ourselves like this." 

"Scott, have you met us? For one, you're about as graceful as a baby deer. Even Bambi could probably stay up longer on the ice than you could. And he's literally known for falling over." 

"Coming from the person who trips over his own legs on a daily basis," Scott points out. Stiles opens his mouth like he's going to argue and Scott adds, "I saw you nearly fall out of the bed this morning when you were trying to get up."

Stiles scoffs. "Okay, no. That was because you were wrapped around me like a freaking octopus, which — frankly, doesn't surprise me anymore considering you do it every single time we're in the same bed."

Scott tries to be a little embarrassed about that, especially considering it's not exactly the first time Stiles has pointed it out, but he's never actually complained about it either. If anything, he initiates it when they're in bed; cuddling up close to him, exactly like he did last night, sometimes more.

Plus, it's not like Scott means to do it. They always just somehow wake up like that and they've been rolling with it since they started having sleepovers. Now that Scott's thinking about it, it's never been awkward, even when they've woken up like they did this morning; Stiles with his face buried somewhere between Scott's neck and shoulder, half on top of him; Scott's arms wrapped around him, just like Stiles said, holding him close; their legs completely tangled. 

"But the point is," Stiles continues, and gives Scott's hand a little tug, the distance between them bigger than it was a few seconds ago, "we're going slow because we're trying not to repeat last time, remember? At least to... you know, warm up or whatever — and yes, I am aware I just said warm up while we're ice skating in the snow." 

Scott grins, but he nods as he pushes forward, not too fast; going crashing into Stiles and potentially sending them both to the ground wouldn't be good for him in the slightest. He's been on top of Stiles enough times to know that by now.

"Okay, fine," he says, "we can go slow. But in five minutes, I'm letting go of your hand if that's still what we're doing. You said an hour and I'd rather not spend the entire time in one spot." He glances up, squinting slightly as snow continues to fall from the sky before looking back at Stiles. "And I've never actually ice skated in the snow before, so it would be fun to see if either of us still have the grace of a baby deer, as you put it." 

"First of all, I said that  _you_  have the grace of a baby deer." Stiles pauses as Scott just raises his eyebrows, his grin brightening. Then he's rolling his eyes and sighing in his usual over exaggerated way. "Okay, okay. But if I break something, I'm blaming you."

Scott barely gets a chance to open his mouth before Stiles stops leaning back on his skates ever so slightly, then he's turning just enough to be facing the same way as him. Scott's the one squeezing his hand now, their eyes meeting for just a second as he bites his lip, raising his eyebrows just a little. 

Then Stiles starts moving—more than he was before and almost making Scott lose his balance from the suddenness of it. But thankfully, he stays upright, only slipping a little while Stiles laughs, then proceeds to nearly do the exact same, which only results in Scott joining in his laughter. 

They both regain their balance as they keep moving, faster now, making their way around the giant rink and carefully swerving around other skaters, some failing just as badly as they are and some looking like they've been doing it their whole lives. Not once does Scott let go of Stiles' hand, and Stiles certainly doesn't either, just squeezing it a little tighter each time they nearly slip and almost go crashing into the barrier, or each other.

"We're definitely going back inside in forty minutes," Stiles insists after nearly flying straight into a girl who shoots him a death glare for it and somehow managing to stay upright. "I can't even feel my fingers anymore, and they're in gloves. Which is why I would like to once again suggest that we go check out the spa." 

Scott tries to bite back his amusement as he nods, giving a hum in response. "Sure, dude."

"Or we could not do that, and instead, we could totally go and explore what I think was a secret door leading to a potentially secret-filled room of—" Stiles cuts himself off as he makes a noise of surprise, and Scott realizes why when he starts to stumble slightly, his hand gripping Scott's. "Fuck!" 

"Oh god." Scott's eyes widen, and he doesn't even think as he reaches his other hand out, aiming to steady him. He catches Stiles' waist, thanking what little part of his heightened reflexes that must have kicked in to stop them both from going crashing to the ground as he tries to keep his own skates steady.

Stiles grabs his shoulder, using it to help steady himself. It works, and his skates stop slipping, much to Scott's relief. He leaves his hand on his waist though, just to be safe. Stiles would most definitely have pulled him down with him if he had fallen, and Scott's learned from experience that being on top of Stiles doesn't lead anywhere good for him.

There's a pause, just a beat where they both stay still, making sure that they're not about to suddenly slip again. Stiles looks at Scott, his lips slightly parted, still a little wide-eyed. Scott can only hold his gaze, his heart going a little too fast in his chest. 

Then Stiles is huffing out a laugh, relaxing and pretty much slumping into Scott as he joins in barely a split second later. 

"Okay, so we definitely haven't improved since that 'double date' with Allison and Lydia," Scott says, receiving an almost pained-sounding but joking groan from Stiles in response. "At least neither of us has a concussion this time." 

"I'd rather not have a twisted ankle," Stiles retorts, and Scott has to quickly bite his lip to stop himself from grinning. "Hey, that wouldn't be good for you either. You'd have to use your wolfy strength to carry me back to the lodge, and the rest of the weekend would be ruined." 

Scott feigns confusion, tilting his head. "It wouldn't be ruined. I'd be going skiing with everyone else like we planned."

Stiles gapes at him, his eyes narrowing, and Scott can't help but cave so soon, laughing at the mock disbelief on his face. Stiles' lips twitch slightly at the corners until he closes his mouth and it turns up into a smile that he's clearly trying to suppress like he always does when trying to act offended. 

He pushes the shoulder he's still holding onto but doesn't take his hand away. "Asshole." 

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Scott says, his voice still shaking slightly as his laughter fades, a smile of his own taking its place. "You know I would never leave you. Even if it meant spending the rest of the weekend in the lodge, trying to find something to stop us both from dying of boredom." 

Stiles rolls his eyes. "Alright, you don't need to get all cheesy on me." Even as he says it though, his mouth tugs up just a little more. "Just because we're practically reenacting every romantic scene from almost every Christmas themed rom-com to exist, doesn't mean you need to start confessing your love for me or anything. Unless you want to, I won't complain, I love those movies."

Scott's heart jumps a beat or two, speeding up just a little bit as he gives another little huff of laughter, forcing himself to relax and take it as just another one of Stiles' casual, playful comments. Except his heartbeat's completely steady, not doing that thing that it does whenever he jokes around; usually it's just a tick, a slight upbeat that makes it clear he's joking. But not this time. 

It doesn't help that Stiles is still looking at him, his eyebrows raised just a little as he chews on his bottom lip. He's still smiling though and that's making it a lot harder for Scott to figure out if he's being serious or just his usual playful self, and he's really trying not to but his eyes keep darting between Stiles' eyes and his mouth. 

Now that he's really looking and Stiles releases his lip, he notices that there's snow sticking to them, only to melt a second later, a second before Stiles' tongue darts our and Scott has to force his eyes back up to meet Stiles', his head buzzing slightly now. All that does is help him notice that the snow's not only sticking to his lips but Stiles' eyelashes as well, even as he blinks. 

"You always said you hated those movies," Scott says, his voice a lot quieter than he expected it to be. "That they were too clichéd and predictable." 

"Well," Stiles gives a little shrug, and Scott's only just realizing he still has a hand on his waist, even though they both know he's been able to stand up without slipping for a good few minutes now, "sometimes I like clichés. Especially the ones in those dumb movies, when they're in the snow and they have that kiss."

"Oh?" is all Scott can say, his eyebrows going up slightly because suddenly every fantasy he's ever had about kissing Stiles in the snow is appearing right back in the front of his mind, making them hard to ignore. 

Stiles gives a little nod and Scott can see him swallow, can feel his pulse jumping like crazy underneath his fingers. He hadn't noticed that until now, his own pounding away in his ears as he quickly processes it all. 

"Yeah, I mean..." Stiles' eyes dart away as Scott feels him playing with the scarf wrapped around his neck, his hand still on his shoulder. "I know I say it's dumb how magical they make it all seem considering they must be freezing their asses off. But it doesn't actually seem so bad, now that I'm really thinking about it."

"Yeah?" Scott asks, that little spark of hope that's refused to disappear since he was twelve and realized that he's in love with him growing just a little, taking in everything like the way that Stiles is just inches away from him and he somehow failed to notice that before.

He swallows, licking his lips to try and get rid of the dryness in his mouth, and he thinks he imagines Stiles' eyes flicking down for just a second before moving back up to his. There's a look on his face that Scott isn't used to seeing, but he tries not to question it too much because Stiles is starting to lean in, so slow, his eyes moving back and forth, questioning. 

Scott's breath catches somewhere in his throat, a part of him wondering if this is just some sort of extremely vivid daydream he's having, caused by the full moon. But he can still feel Stiles' heartbeat underneath his fingers, fast but steady, letting him know that this is real as Stiles' hand tightens just a little around his own. 

He's moving to lean in before he can process what he's doing. He doesn't even think about what might happen if Stiles suddenly pulls away, laughing it off as one of his usual jokes, or worse, if he doesn't and instead he's confused or mad for him going to kiss him. All he can think is Stiles, and the snow, and how perfect this all feels. 

The second his eyes close, he knows something is about to happen; maybe it's his heightened senses finally kicking in without going overboard, but he can just sense it as the hand on his shoulder slides up to his neck, slipping halfway below the collar of his jacket and his scarf. 

He thinks he hears a question whispered just barely an inch or two away from his lips, a quiet, "are you sure?" 

He knows without a doubt that he is, he doesn't even need to think about it, so he nods. The feel of a breath of air ghosting over his lips for a split second sends a shiver through him, but it's quickly overshadowed by the lips on his. 

They're soft and careful, more cautious than Scott thinks he's ever known Stiles to be. Any possible hesitation seeps away as he kisses back, the hand on Stiles' waist tightening ever so slightly as his head spins and he has to remind himself this is real, this is actually happening. 

Then there's the sound of skates skidding on the ice, and the next thing he knows, his eyes are wide open and he's quickly pulling himself and Stiles out of the way of someone who clearly just lost control of their own feet.

For a second, he thinks he's about to go sliding and crashing into the ground, momentarily losing his balance. But thankfully they stopped so close to the barrier the first time that he manages to keep himself upright, along with Stiles, who still has a grip on one of his hands and the other hand now back on his shoulder.

Scott's heart is still racing even once they're steady, and he knows that it's because it has absolutely nothing to do with nearly slipping again. He lifts his gaze back up to Stiles to find him already staring at him, still slightly wide-eyed, his heartbeat a little calmer now. 

Once again, they're pausing, neither of them saying or doing anything, and Scott barely even breathes, worried about what it might do. Stiles' tongue darts out across his upper lip as he takes in a breath, holding it for just a second. As soon as he exhales, without any warning, they both start laughing. 

Scott has no idea why, but he isn't questioning it either, just glad that this is the way it went when there were so many other routes, and not all of them good.

"Okay," Stiles manages to calm his laughter enough that there's only a quiver in his voice and a grin left on his face as he looks back at Scott, "clearly we are not meant to ice skate. This is the fourth time in our entire lives that we've tried, and every single time, it's resulted in the exact same thing. Us injuring ourselves — hell, even each other — in the most ridiculous ways possible and leaving with concussions, twisted ankles, you name it." 

"Yeah, we should probably give up at this point," Scott agrees.

There's a twisting deep in his gut as he says that, faintly spreading to his chest. He forces himself to push out the little part of him that's thinking ice skating isn't the only thing he should give up on seeing as how there's obviously no hope of either of them working out. He already knows that, but getting caught up in the moment seems to be a habit for him. 

"Maybe in ten minutes?" Stiles says, and Scott's eyebrows go up. He shrugs, that mischievous grin making an appearance once more. "Come on, I want to race." 

"You what now?" Scott can't help but blink in surprise while Stiles rolls his eyes. "Dude, you just about twisted your ankle, and I nearly went head first into the ground. Again. I'm not so sure racing's such a good idea."

"Come on," Stiles says again, more pleading this time. He drops his hand from Scott's shoulder and finally lets go of him completely for the first time since they got here. "It'll be fun." 

Scott falters, his mouth already opening to try and protest; he definitely wants to considering he's having more fun than he has in a while, and clearly, so is Stiles, but he also doesn't want to actually end up spending the rest of the weekend in the lodge because Stiles twisted something. 

He glances away, up at the sky, the snow coming down a little more than before. He's about to try and use that as an excuse but then he makes the mistake of looking back at Stiles as he does that thing with his face that really makes it hard to say no. The slightly wide eyes, his bottom lip just barely sticking out. 

"Okay, fine, let's do it," Scott says, already knowing he's going to regret that decision. 

Stiles, however, perks up at his answer, his entire face brightening as he grins.

"Great. Good luck catching up with me, wolf boy," Stiles teases, leaning in just a little as Scott rolls his eyes at the nickname. "The odds aren't really in your favour today. I, however, happen to be a good ice skater when I'm not distracted." 

Scott knows that's not the truth, but he doesn't say anything about it, just shakes his head as a smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. Then Stiles gives a little nod, winks, and gives absolutely no warning before skating off. 

Scott scoffs quietly out of fond exasperation, then he's following after him, already feeling that itching underneath his skin as he tries to force himself not to tap into any part of his wolf side. He's already going to have a tough day tomorrow with the full moon, it'll make things a lot easier if he tries to leave it be for today. But using a little bit of it to his advantage for five minutes won't do much harm.

\---------------------

Stiles is certain of one thing as he paces around the kitchen of Allison's family lodge. Well, he's pretty sure of it anyway, and that thing is that he's losing his mind. It's really the only explanation for why he would do something as stupid as even think about kissing his best friend in the middle of an ice rink full of people. 

It's not like this is the first time he's found himself questioning his stupid decisions, but this one definitely tops the list of all of them, and that's really saying something. He can't even come up with one good reason for why he thought it was a good idea. In what universe does kissing Scott end well for him and not in complete and utter humiliation and rejection?

All it's going to do now is complicate everything, then the entire weekend really is ruined—not that he's so sure it isn't already. He kissed Scott. How does he come back from that? Lie and say it was a heat of the moment thing? 

There's no way Scott would buy that. He can sense his chemosignals, which means he already knows everything, as if the way Stiles was kissing him before they nearly got rammed into wasn't telling enough, and—

Stiles forces himself to stop, leaning on the island in front of him as he lowers his head. He closes his eyes as he takes in a deep breath. He doesn't know anything for sure. 

After all, it's not like Scott's acknowledging what happened back at the ice rink. As soon as they started that stupid race that Scott won with a flash of red eyes, it was pretty much forgotten about. Except, Stiles can't forget it, and he's having a pretty hard time trying to wrap his head around the whole thing, as well as figure out what exactly is going through  _Scott's_  head. 

He groans and drops his head onto his arms. This is a disaster, and at this point, he's pretty sure it can only get worse. Unless Scott really does decide to never bring the whole thing up ever again. That would just mean that Stiles would go the rest of his life knowing he kissed him. No more than the usual suffering and pining when he really thinks about it. Except now he knows what it feels like to kiss him; the way his mouth moves so perfectly with his own, and how—

"Stiles, you okay?" 

Stiles lifts his head to look at Scott, standing on the other side of the island. He's got this look on his face; so much concern and worry that makes Stiles have to groan again in his head and wish that he could hibernate to his room for the rest of the weekend.

Except his room is also Scott's room and it's sort of hard to avoid someone when you share a bed with them. Not that he really wants to get into the whole avoiding thing, because that would absolutely make everything so much worse. 

"Yeah, no, I'm good," he answers, straightening up a little. "Why wouldn't I be?" 

He starts unconsciously scratching his fingers along the wood underneath them, hoping that his heartbeat isn't about to give him away. He's not that stupid though.

Scott's eyebrows furrow and his head tilts a little to the side as he glances at Stiles' hands. It makes him pause for a second, but that only makes his heart jump a beat or two in his chest. The slight moment of panic that Scott's about to do it, about to bring up what happened and force him to talk about it, because Scott just doesn't ignore things the way Stiles does and is happy doing. 

He swallows, his throat just a little too dry. Thankfully, the change in his steady heartbeat seems to be enough to drag Scott's attention back up to his face. There's still something there; a little glint of something small, hidden, being pushed away. 

For a second or three, guilt twists in Stiles' stomach. He knows that Scott hates doing things like this, avoiding things, pretending nothing's wrong. And yet here he is, making him do it anyway. 

"No reason," Scott finally says, and accompanying it is a smile. A reassuring, knowing, "don't worry about it" sort of smile that's just so utterly Scott that it somehow makes Stiles feel both better and worse all at the same time. "You've just been in here for a while and we were talking about watching a movie before you came through for a drink, so..." 

"Right, yeah." Stiles nods, swallowing. "I'll be through in a minute. Just... getting that drink. Like I said I was doing." 

Scott sends him a strange look, clearly trying to figure out what's going on with him. Either that or he's trying to pretend like he doesn't already know that Stiles is still internally freaking out and trying to figure out what the hell he does now. 

Stiles has never been more thankful for Allison than the moment she joins them in the kitchen, ruining any chance Scott has of possibly saying anything that could lead to that very awkward and damning conversation. Or any possibility of Stiles giving into Scott's puppy-dog eyes and blurting everything out before he can even get the chance.

Allison flashes that smile that even Stiles softens a little at, glancing between the two of them. If she notices anything off between them, she sure doesn't point it out. Even if the glint in her eyes and the slight slip in her smile gives it away. 

"Uh, Scott?" She turns to face him, pointing over her shoulder, back toward the opening leading to the lounge area where everyone else is sitting. "Lydia wants to talk to you. She said something about Beacon Hills, I'm not sure about the rest. Jackson and Malia started arguing before she could finish." 

Scott's shoulders slump as he sighs. "They're gonna kill each other if someone doesn't stop them." 

Stiles can't disagree with that, even if Scott's sending him a look like he desperately wants him to. He's pretty sure he's got a good idea of why that is, and it's safe to say, he isn't going to cave this time.

Scott must realize that because he drops his gaze with another sigh, already turning towards the lounge. "I'll meet you guys through there. Hopefully with this place and everyone still in one piece." 

Then, with one last glance from Allison to Stiles, he heads out of the room to join the rest of their friends. Stiles watches him until he can't see him anymore, then breathes out in relief. His heartbeat's still jumping a little all over the place, but it'll slow itself down again in a few seconds, he's sure. 

He tells himself to just relax as he walks over to the fridge; he did say he was getting a drink. It might be a little suspicious if he doesn't come back with one, and he'd really rather not explain that the real reason he came into the kitchen was that he was sitting so close to Scott on the sofa and it was driving him crazy every time he turned to talk to him. 

He feels like his ten-year-old self all over again, when he first realized that what he felt for Scott might be a little more than friendly. Except this time, he's a lot surer that Scott knows now as well. 

He tries to push that thought out of his head as he grabs one of the bottles. As he does though, he becomes a little too aware of someone watching him, a pair of eyes practically burning two holes into his back.

Trying to ignore it, he scans over the rest of the contents of the fridge, mainly to buy himself a little more time before he has to go back through, but also because lunch at the resort didn't even come close to filling him. It certainly doesn't seem to dissuade Allison from whatever it is that Stiles just knows she's mulling over in her mind, finding the best way to word whatever is about to come out of her mouth. 

The footsteps walking around the island and over to him make that pretty clear. As well as the brief look she shoots him when she sidles up next to him, opening up one of the cupboards above her. She even smiles again. 

Stiles just keeps his mouth shut and focuses on the fridge. There's a lot of chocolate, weirdly enough. Maybe Argent's been watching  _Harry Potter_  and took some advice from Remus, what with the full moon being tomorrow and all. 

 _That's it,_  Stiles thinks, something clicking in his head. That's probably why Scott was acting all weird and went along with him at the ice rink and kissed him the way that he did. The full moon's probably been making his head all fuzzy and so he wasn't thinking straight and—

"Is everything okay?" Allison asks, dragging his attention back to her. Her tone is so casual about it as well, along with the little glance at him as she takes another glass out of the cupboard, setting it on the counter beside the other one. 

"Yeah, of course," he answers, giving a little nod. "Still can't feel my fingers though, so the jury's still out on if they're going to have to be cut off or if they'll heat up in the next hour." 

She gives a soft sort of laugh and rolls her eyes, and Stiles grins. Even if she is one of the most annoyingly observant people he's met, and also possibly as determined as he is to get to the bottom of things when it's obvious they're not right, she's also one of the only ones who understand his humour and isn't being cruel when she laughs at something he says. 

"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that," she says, taking the bottle out of his hand. She twists the lid off as she adds, "especially since we're going skiing tomorrow. It might be a bit difficult if your fingers got cut off." 

"Nah." Stiles closes the fridge. He turns around and leans back against it. "I'm sure I'd find a way. Skiing's all about the feet, not the fingers."

"Good point," Allison agrees with a grin as she fills one of the glasses. Then it slips a little and Stiles' heartbeat jumps because that look on her face is pretty familiar. "But...  _is_ everything okay? Between you and Scott, I mean."

Stiles tenses. He knew this was coming, he had just hoped that maybe it was possible that he was discreet enough about his internal conflict for no one else to notice. 

He forces a little huff of a laugh, crossing his arms without really realizing it. "Yeah. When aren't things okay between us? Well, other than when we woke up this morning, but that was because he was hogging the blanket, which he denied."

Allison's lips twitch up at the corners but she doesn't budge, still staring at him with raised eyebrows and that knowing look. If he didn't know any better, he'd say she has to be some sort of supernatural creature as well, what with how well she can read people's emotions. Especially his. 

"We're fine," Stiles says, emphasizing it in the hopes that she'll get the message and drop it. "Things just seem off because the full moon's tomorrow. There's nothing going on between me and Scott. I mean—there's nothing wrong between us. We're fine, okay? As close as ever. In the metaphorical sense."

His slight rambling clearly has done nothing to convince her. All it's achieved is making himself even more frustrated by the whole situation, mainly at himself. 

"Okay," she says, and gives a little shrug. "I was just checking. It just seems like Scott's distracted by something and I thought it might have something to do with you since you've been acting just as weird. But if you're sure there's nothing wrong, then it must just be the full moon, like you said." 

Stiles can only nod in agreement, not trusting himself to speak. He really must not be as subtle as he thinks he is then, and apparently, neither is Scott. But it's not like he can just pull him to the side and tell him to try and be more discreet so that no one else asks them about it, because that means talking about it, and it seems that they have a silent agreement to not do that. 

He pushes down the urge to groan again as Allison hands him one of the glasses and nods her head in the direction of the lounge, gesturing for him to come with her. He doesn't refuse, even if he does feel like maybe a few more minutes by himself are necessary. 

At least when the two of them walk into the room, everyone's still alive and Malia and Jackson are no longer arguing. They _are_  sitting on pretty much opposite ends of the room, but that's probably for the best. All they need to make this weekend perfect is patching up one of them a couple hours before the full moon. 

Lydia clearly pauses in the middle of saying something, and is waiting for them to sit down before she continues. She even sends them the insistent, almost annoyed but more challenging eyebrow raise. 

Allison hops back into the empty spot beside Jackson on one of the sofas while Stiles glances around, wondering if he can get away with sitting on the floor. Before he can make the decision though, he catches Scott looking over at him with that little smile on his face. 

Forcing down the bubbling of anxiety building in his stomach, he smiles back and moves over to the sofa he's sitting on, retaking his seat next to Scott. If he's tracking his chemosignals, he sure doesn't let it show. 

That is, until Stiles settles down, his leg already bouncing. Scott doesn't say anything as Lydia makes a slightly exaggerated noise and continues with what she was saying—something about how after much debating, they've decided on a movie to watch. 

But he does give Stiles' shoulder a little nudge with his own, leaving them touching even as he brushes his knuckles against the back of Stiles' hand. It's just a little thing, so simple and small that it could even be passed off as just him moving his hand. But it's always been Scott's most subtle way of showing that he's there for him. 

He does it whenever he thinks Stiles might be anxious and they're around people. Sometimes he'll even take his hand, rub his thumb between Stiles' thumb and finger. He knows it helps and somehow figured it out quickly. 

That's why Stiles can't help but immediately relax just a little at the contact. His leg keeps on bouncing but the knot in his stomach isn't so tight as he listens to Lydia continue on about the choice of movie while grabbing it and getting it set up. 

That somehow only makes him feel worse about the whole situation. Here Scott is, trying to help him because he thinks something's wrong, all while Stiles is still lying to him. The feel of Scott's skin suddenly doesn't feel so relaxing and soothing so much as it does like something he doesn't deserve. Not when he's avoiding this whole big mess. 

He forces himself to pull his hand away, wrapping his arm around himself instead in the hopes of making it that little bit easier. He doesn't even have to look at Scott to see the expression on his face; the confusion, possible hurt, the worry. It's all there, he knows it. Which is exactly why he keeps his eyes focused on the screen of the tv as the movie starts up. 

Maybe things will be better tomorrow. They'll have to focus on the full moon, so they won't have the time to worry about awkwardness or even think about the kiss. Things will go back to normal tomorrow. He's sure of it. 

For now—meaning the rest of the night, including the time he's going to have to spend in a bed with Scott—he'll just have to deal with that little self-loathing part of himself that wishes he had more self-control. 

\--------------------------

For the first time in... possibly forever since he and Scott started having sleepovers, Stiles doesn't wake up to the feel of him pressed close to him, limbs tangled together. It's weird, knowing he's right there—he can feel him stirring behind him, Stiles facing away from him, like usual—but not being close to him. Maybe it's just because it's a bigger bed. They're not used to having this much space. 

That's what he tells himself in an attempt to push out that little nagging thought in the back of his head that's telling him this is his fault. It's what he continues to tell himself as he rolls over as carefully as possible, just to check if he's fully awake yet, only to find him as far away as he possibly can be without falling out of the bed. 

He probably just rolled over in his sleep, he thinks. Scott isn't the type of person to actively avoid doing things that they're used to just because of one little mistake. That's Stiles, and even he's second-guessing himself on that, considering the strong urge he has to move closer, press his face into the back of his neck and keep him close. 

He watches as Scott shifts slightly, ready to pretend to be asleep if he wakes up. A second or two later though and he's stopped, now facing him but still so far away. It's the first time that Stiles has cursed the bed for being so big. 

It's funny how just last night, he was barely inches away from Scott and didn't mess everything up then. He could literally count each one of his eyelashes with how close he was but it was okay because they were just talking. Now he can't even bring himself to shift even a little closer, or reach his hand out to Scott's, laying close enough for him to be able to rest his own on top of it, or do anything that he used to without feeling guilty about it. Like he can't until they've cleared things up, talked about it. Once again, Stiles reminds himself that it would only make things worse to do that. 

He doesn't know how long he just lies there, looking at how peaceful Scott is, how soft his features seem as he listens to each breath in and out. It's a habit he's picked up on the nights they've been sleeping over at each others' houses but he can't fall asleep. It happens surprisingly often. 

But even though he's unaware of how just long it's been, he's aware that it's a while. Long enough for his arm to get tired underneath the pillows and for there to be faint footsteps somewhere else in the lodge, echoing slightly throughout it.  _Probably Lydia,_ he thinks, knowing she's the most likely to wake up early. 

Still, he can't seem to force himself to try and go back to sleep. If he really has ruined everything because of yesterday, then he wants to at least be able to take in this one moment. Seeing Scott so stress-free, despite the full moon being a few hours away. The way his chest rises ever so slightly, and―

Scott stirs again for the first time in however long it's been, and this time, in a way that Stiles has become aware means he's about to wake up. He quickly shuts his eyes, deciding that pretending to be asleep would probably be better than being caught watching him sleep. Especially after yesterday. 

He listens carefully as he tries to get his heartbeat to stop jumping around. Usually, he only feigns being asleep when he doesn't want to have to pull himself away from Scott, because even on the nights he couldn't sleep, he was always right next to him with at least an arm over him. So this is sort of unfamiliar territory.

A few seconds pass, Stiles trying to stay still and stop his eyes from opening as he feels Scott continue to move around. Then there's a creak from the floorboards and a weight disappears from the bed.

He peeks an eye open just in time to catch a glimpse of Scott's back as he switches on the bathroom light before he closes the door, the lock clicking behind him. Stiles relaxes as he exhales, his eyes closing once again as he rolls over and buries his face in the pillows. They muffle the groan that comes out of his mouth a second later as he realizes that maybe he was wrong and this really won't just go away on its own. 

"You really do know how to fuck things up, don't you, Stiles?" he mutters to himself, knowing it's probably safe seeing as how he can hear water running in the bathroom. There's a good chance Scott's too disoriented from the full moon being a few hours away to hear him. 

Stiles just stays there, keeping his face hidden in the pillows even when he hears the bathroom door opening. There's another brief little moment of almost complete silence as Stiles tries to figure out when exactly would be the right time to "wake up" seeing as how he's still pretending he's asleep. 

Before he can come to any decision though, the bed sinks a little bit and a second later, he's being gently poked in the arm. 

"Stiles," Scott whispers, his voice still in that sort of deeper, but softer stage due to him probably still not being fully awake yet. It's something Stiles has gotten way too used to and is just another thing that makes his life far more difficult. 

This time, Scott rests his hand on his arm, giving him a gentle shake that feels a lot more like he's just rubbing his arm. He pretends to stir this time though, knowing from experience that Scott's next attempt to wake him either involves his fingers in his hair and him being way closer than he is able to handle right now or him practically pinning him down and tickling him until he wakes up. Neither of which would end well right now.

"Stiles," Scott says again as Stiles shifts around a little bit, turning his head to look up at him. "Sorry. I would have left you sleeping but I'm pretty sure everyone else is waking up and Lydia did tell me to make sure we were up in time to leave with them. You know, because of the skiing and breakfast finishing at a certain time and everything."

Stiles gives a little nod and a hum, acknowledging that he heard him. For a second, he wonders if Scott's going to do that thing where he waits until he actually sits up and is at least awake enough to be able to see without needing to blink every two seconds before moving away from him. 

His question's answered barely a second later as Scott's hand leaves his arm, and then he's off the bed again so fast that Stiles actually questions if he just used his super speed. 

 _That's ridiculous,_  he thinks. Except he's doubting himself now because what if he really has messed things up this time? 

Scott doesn't even say anything as he walks out of the room, leaving Stiles to lay there, knowing he should hurry up and get dressed but not being able to make himself move yet. Unintentionally, he finds himself counting the seconds, picturing each one being a footstep further away from him. Then he sighs and forces himself out of the bed, despite his only urge right now being to punch the stuffing out of possibly the most comfortable pillow he's ever slept on. 

So much for the full moon being a good distraction. If anything, it feels like it's only amplifying his problems, and he's not even the one being affected by it. 

\---------------------------

As soon as he slips around the corner, taking him down into one of the other hallways that none of them have really gone down yet at all, Scott stops. He pretty much slumps against the railing in front of him in relief. He lets his head drop forward as he breathes out, trying to ignore the dull pain shooting through it. One downside to the full moon. 

He tries to at least get the twisting and swooping in his stomach to stop, and the tightness in his chest that scarily resembles the feeling he used to get right before an asthma attack to lessen slightly. It's sort of hard to do that though when all he can think about is how much he's messed up. 

Stiles obviously knows that kissing him on the ice rink wasn't a heat of the moment thing, not for him. That's why he's acting so weird and jumpy around him. He's never pulled his hand away from him before when Scott's tried to help ease some of his anxiety. If anything, he usually moves closer. 

But now he's avoiding him. He knows he is, it's obvious, and Scott hates it. He wants to be able to blame his lack of self-control on the full moon, and who knows, maybe he could get away with that. With anyone who isn't Stiles. Besides, it would only make him feel worse to try and deny that he wanted to kiss him considering it's the only thing he could think about doing in that moment. 

Accepting that maybe this is it, maybe he's actually found a way to mess everything up between them is a thought that's hard for him to swallow. Maybe Stiles will forget. After all, it's not like he's actually said anything about it.

Scott nearly scoffs at himself. Who is he kidding? Stiles is probably just trying to be a good friend by not mentioning it. Plus, anyone who knows Stiles knows that his method of dealing with things he doesn't want to is by ignoring them. Somehow, that only makes Scott feel a whole lot worse, especially when the only thing he wants to do right now is talk to him, tell him everything. Even at the risk of ruining everything, if they're not already there yet. It would—

"Scott?" Kira's voice nearly makes him jump ten feet in the air. 

He turns his head to look at her, his eyes widening slightly at being caught by surprise. The full moon is supposed to make him more aware, make his already heightened senses even more heightened, not let him get so caught up in his internal conflict that he doesn't notice someone walking past. 

"Hey," he says, trying to act casual. "I was just—" 

"It's okay," Kira cuts him off with a smile. She shrugs. "I get it. Full moon, right? I can only imagine what it must feel like." 

Scott just stares for a second, then he's nodding. "Yeah. The full moon. It's... not great."

He hates lying to her, to any of them—although, technically he's not. The full moon really isn't great and he's been feeling the evidence of that for the past couple of days as it gets closer. So, really, there's no harm in using it as his excuse when the alternative would be telling her about the kiss.

Which would also mean telling her about his feelings for Stiles, and he just... can't. Especially not if things continue down this road, because then everything will be ruined and what would be the point? It's better this way. He just needs to figure things out with Stiles, if that's even possible, considering he obviously doesn't want to talk about it.

"Maybe something to eat will take your mind off of it?" Kira suggests, though her voice is uncertain, so she adds, "or coffee? Or maybe that wouldn't be so good, seeing as how it would probably send your already heightened sense into overdrive, what with the caffeine and all. Or maybe it—"

She stops, probably having noticed that Scott's just watching her ramble on with a fond smile. It seems to be something he finds cute, which isn't surprising when he remembers who his best friend is. 

"Sorry," she says, ducking her head as she laughs lightly. "You probably know best about what will help and what won't." 

"Actually, I'm pretty clueless as well," Scott admits, causing Kira to look up at him with a curiosity in her eyes. "Still figuring things out myself if I'm honest. Apparently not even four years is enough experience to have it all worked out. It's more of a you learn something new about your own abilities every day kind of thing." She grins and he adds, "Though, coffee does sound good right about now. Or maybe hot chocolate. Depends on what I find first."

"Oh in that case, we should probably get down there before there's none left, or else you'll have to wait until we get to the resort." Kira shrugs when Scott's head tilts a little. "I heard Jackson, Isaac, Malia, and Lydia all need around three cups of coffee first thing to be able to function properly. Plus, there's the whole full moon thing tonight, so..."

Scott laughs quietly and nods in agreement. "That's a good point. We should probably go then."

He waits for Kira's little nod of agreement before going to walk forward and head downstairs, hoping that maybe that was enough time for him to be able to collect himself properly before having to face a more awake Stiles who most likely is still absolutely avoiding him. 

Then he notices the look on Kira's face; her eyebrows drawn together ever so slightly, her frown. He stops as she looks up at him, and somewhere in the back of his head is a little voice that's telling him this is it.

"It's just the full moon, right?" she asks. His head tilts a little and she quickly adds, "It's just that... Allison was telling me that she thinks there's something up with Stiles, but he won't talk about it, and I just thought that whatever was bothering you might be bothering him as well. But... the full moon can't be affecting him as well, can it?"

"Allison thinks there's something wrong with Stiles?" he asks, unable to help himself, his heartbeat jumping.

Kira gives a mixture between a nod and a shrug. "Sort of? She did ask him about it but he just said it was nothing. I think he mentioned the full moon, but other than that, he said he was okay. I don't think Allison believes him though." 

Scott can only nod slowly, his mind already racing. This is his fault. Stiles is only acting strange because of what happened on the ice rink and Scott knows it, and now Allison's noticing as well. The more people who notice, the worse this will get. The only way around that would be... to talk to Stiles, admit everything. That way, it'll be easier to just decide where to go from there. Whether things are completely ruined or not.

"You're sure everything's okay?" Kira asks, and Scott doesn't need her chemosignals to know that she can tell there's something more. "It's just the full moon? Not that I don't believe you or anything, but you and Stiles both seem... off, and it's none of my business, but—" She stops herself short, obviously taking a second or two to get her words right. "I just want to make sure everything's okay. I've never seen you two like this and it's... weird."

Scott can only imagine that she's right. He and Stiles have never avoided each other or been in a bad place. Not like this. No wonder people are noticing. 

He manages to smile, wanting to ease her suspicions and concern. "Yeah, we're okay." A little bit of guilt for lying to her hits him as her mouth curves up slightly. "Or... we will be. It's nothing to worry about, I promise."

She seems to accept his answer seeing as how he was a little more honest this time. He really does hope things will be okay between him and Stiles, and he's going to do whatever he can to try and fix things. Even if that does mean keeping his feelings hidden. It's not like he hasn't been doing it for pretty much his entire life.

"Okay," Kira says, a little happier now. She nods her head in the direction she came from. "Should we go then?" 

Scott nods, grinning as he pushes off the wall. "And on the way, maybe we could talk about how Malia and Jackson somehow found a way to argue for nearly the entire night. Even from separate rooms."

"Oh my god," Kira groans, rolling her eyes as they start to walk out of the hallway, heading for the stairs. "I know, it's ridiculous. They have to be related, seriously." 

Scott snorts but can't disagree. "Let's hope for our sake they're not. Two hales under the same roof for a weekend?"

Kira makes a face and shudders, causing Scott to laugh as they walk down the stairs, getting closer to the sounds of quiet voices. They continue until they reach them, finding almost all of their friends in the kitchen. Allison and Jackson seem to be in charge of making coffee seeing as how they're the two who look the most awake and are least likely to burn themselves from still being half-asleep. Lydia and Isaac actually seem to be getting along as they sit on opposite sides of the island, talking away to each other. 

They're all still in their pyjamas, and it's a little disorienting if Scott's being honest as he and Kira walk in unnoticed. Never did he ever think that something like this would happen, nor did he ever expect to know what half of his friends look like first thing in the morning. Weirdly, it's nice; it gives him a sort of warm, happy feeling. Maybe they should do this more often, just take weekends away from all of the drama of their usual lives. And for once, no one's at each other's throats. 

"McCall, two sugars, right?" Jackson asks without even looking at him. 

Scott blinks in surprise, glancing at Kira who simply grins and shrugs in response. "Uh, yeah?" 

"Told you," Jackson says, turning his head to smirk at Allison as she rolls her eyes. "This isn't my first time with everyone's coffee orders. You've still got some learning to do, Argent."

Scott can only raise his eyebrows as Kira move further into the room, taking a seat beside Isaac. He gives her a little smile of acknowledgment which she seems to happily return ten times brighter before he goes back to his conversation with Lydia. 

Scott pauses in the doorway. He can't help but glance over his shoulder toward the stairs, his ears already straining themselves without him realizing. It doesn't really take much effort anyway to catch onto the familiar and steady heartbeat still upstairs. It also doesn't take much effort to notice that there's something off, despite how normal it seems as the faint sound of footsteps moving around the room accompany it. 

Maybe he should have stayed in the room instead of rushing out like he did. It was just that when he was sitting there beside him, he could hear and feel his heartbeat going all over the place, not to mention that Stiles practically froze when he touched his arm to wake him up. He just couldn't stop thinking of yesterday, when Stiles pulled away from him. He just wanted to blurt everything out right there and then. Leaving the room as quickly as possible seemed like the only good option but now he's not so sure. 

Scott notices Allison glancing around as he walks in and takes a seat beside Lydia. 

"Is it just me or are we missing two people?" she asks, her eyebrows drawing together.

"Yeah, I tried to wake Malia up," Lydia says, pausing with her mug halfway to her mouth. "I got a pillow flung at me and told to fuck off, so if she's still asleep when we're leaving, then she's getting left behind."

Scott bites back a laugh. He can definitely picture Malia not being a morning person. 

"So that's what that noise was," he jokes, earning himself a glare from Lydia. "Well, Stiles should be down in a minute," he adds without really thinking as Jackson moves away from the counter, handing him one of the cups he's holding. "Thanks."

He takes a drink, despite it being way too hot. The burning liquid's actually quite nice around the full moon time. For some reason it just helps to sort of... balance things out a little in his head. Not for long though. 

"Speaking of..." Lydia starts as he lowers his cup, turning his gaze on her. She's got this curious look on her face but it's also cautious, like she's choosing each word carefully in her head. That combined with the way she glances at Allison sends a little warning flag through Scott' head, telling him he knows what's coming. "Is everything okay with you two?" 

Scott's eyes dart to Kira. She sends him an apologetic little smile, pretty much hiding behind her own cup that seems to have appeared out of nowhere. This really isn't good; at this rate, he and Stiles really will have to talk about this, if only just to stop their friends from getting suspicious and reading more into it then they should. 

He doesn't manage to get further than saying, "we're—" before his eyes catch movement on the stairs. Then Stiles is walking into the kitchen as if perfectly on cue and making the rest of what Scott was going to say get stuck somewhere in the back of his throat. 

 _We're fine,_  sounds like more of a lie than he originally thought now that he's looking at him, paused in the doorway and glancing around the room. Especially when Stiles meets his eyes and Scott catches the jump in his heartbeat without meaning to. Even if he hadn't, the way that Stiles is looking at him; eyes a little wide, an almost worried, closed-off and yet also pretty open glint in them; his head slightly lowered; his lips parted just a little as if there's something he wants to say while he fidgets with his hands. It's all so easy for Scott to notice and too hard to ignore.

Stiles looks away after what feels like way too long, his tongue darting out across his lips. Scott forces himself to do the same, knowing that if he doesn't, he'll only make the situation a lot worse for the both of them. 

He takes a drink, happily welcoming the still burning hot coffee as Stiles quickly shifts back into his usual attitude and grins, his attention now seemingly on anyone but Scott. 

"Well, I see everyone's cheerful today," he jokes as he moves further into the room. He stops at the counter Jackson and Allison are still standing at, despite everyone excluding Stiles now holding a cup of coffee. "And I see you two have the task of keeping it that way." 

Allison rolls her eyes behind her own cup while Jackson gives a half-hearted sneer. 

"Sorry, I'm off duty now," he says, feigning being apologetic as Allison opens the cupboard back up to take out another cup. "Afraid you'll just have to get it yourself. That's what happens when you sleep in late." 

He pushes away from the counter, letting Stiles take his place, despite Allison waving him off with a smile. 

"I've been awake for an hour," Stiles argues like it'll make a difference and Scott pauses. "Besides, I would rather make my own coffee than let you do it. You might poison me. Actually, scratch that, you absolutely would poison me, I have no doubt about that." 

Scott can't help but get stuck on the first part. When he woke up, he did think that Stiles' heartbeat was going maybe a little faster than it should be if he was asleep. But when he came back from the bathroom, he just assumed that it was maybe a bad dream. It's not like Stiles doesn't get them every night. 

Now that he's thinking about it though, it would make more sense if he was awake. But for an hour? Why pretend to be asleep, even when he was waking him up? 

His eyes drift back over to Stiles, now accepting that Allison's making his coffee, no matter how many times he says it's okay. It's as if he suddenly realizes what he said, his own eyes darting over to Scott for barely a second or two before he looks away again, ducking his head and focusing on Allison.

Scott's stomach twists and he's now not so sure the coffee's helping as much as he thought. Still, that doesn't stop him from taking another drink, even if it's just to give himself something to do that doesn't involve staring at Stiles and trying to figure out the best possible way to bring up what happened on the ice rink. 

He's accepting that they'll have to talk about it at some point with the way their friends are going, it's just the how and when he's stuck on. Just blurting it out doesn't exactly seem like the best idea.

He receives a nudge to his arm, making him turn his head to look at Lydia. She's just staring at him with raised eyebrows and a look that clearly says none of that went unnoticed by her. He glances at Kira and Isaac only to find Kira doing the same, only with a more sympathetic, sort of worried look. Isaac, on the other hand, seems to be doing his very best to not look like he's taking any sort of interest in it at all.

Scott quickly turns his eyes back on Lydia, simply giving a tiny shake of his head. He's not even entirely sure what it means if he's honest, but somehow, Lydia seems to understand it perfectly if the way she chews on her bottom lip and glances at everyone else is anything to go by. 

He assumes that's it and is happy to drop the subject. Not that it really makes much of a difference when his mind immediately goes back to thinking of all the different ways he could bring it up to Stiles once again. 

 _Today's going to be a long day_ , he thinks as he takes another drink of his coffee, hoping that maybe once the full moon's out thing's will be a little easier to deal with. Something he never thought he would find himself thinking.

\-------------------------------------------

"I can't believe you seriously just made us walk all the way back from the resort in minus whatever the hell it is out there," Stiles complains, addressing Lydia as the two of them walk ahead. 

Scott almost sighs as he follows behind them, the warmth of the lodge hitting him as soon as he steps through the door. It's definitely a nice change from the snow outside that's been biting at his skin the entire walk back, but he can't really enjoy it all that much when Stiles and Lydia have been arguing since breakfast. As much as he hates the awkward tension between himself and Stiles, he would prefer that over this. 

Lydia stops walking, spinning around on her heels to face Stiles with a familiar look of exasperation. "I've told you five times already, but how about I say it again, just for you, okay? A hoodie is not appropriate clothing for skiing, and nor is half of the things that we're all wearing. So, yes. I forced you to walk all the way back so that you won't catch hypothermia when you go diving head first into the mountain of snow. You're welcome."

"I didn't thank you!" Stiles protests, but it's pointless because she's already walking away again, heading in the direction of the stairs. He huffs, shaking his head as he glances at Scott, Allison, and Kira, the only ones who lingered back uncertainly. "Unbelievable. As if we didn't all already catch hypothermia because of her—" 

"Let's just hurry and get changed, yeah?" Allison suggests, quickly stopping him from continuing. Clearly, she's as exhausted by the two of them as Scott is, and she doesn't even have to deal with their voices being heightened by hundred.

She casts a wary glance at Scott, the look saying everything that he's thinking. He just gives a nod in response as she and Kira quickly follow after Lydia, disappearing in the same direction that Jackson and Isaac did just moments ago.

Scott moves to do the same, pausing for only a second to nod his head at the stairs. "Come on. We might as well get changed. It is pretty cold outside." 

Stiles doesn't say anything but he does follow his lead as Scott continues up the stairs, heading for the bedroom. He's admittedly glad that Lydia made them come back to grab warmer clothes. Mainly because it feels like the snow has seeped into his skin and turned his bones to ice, something that he's become pretty used to when the full moon's out in winter. And also partially to escape the awkward glances that he and Stiles have been exchanging since they left. 

He walks into the room, Stiles close behind him. Slipping his jacket off, Scott moves over to the bed, having kicked his bag underneath it on the first night they got here. As he pulls his bag out in front of him and unzips it, he notices that Stiles doesn't bother to close the door. 

A part of him can't help but faintly wonder if things are really that bad between them that he feels the need to leave the door open, or if it's just because he doesn't think they need it closed. He quickly shakes that thought off. He's being ridiculous, he knows he is. 

Still, his eyes wander over to Stiles, pulling what looks like a scarf out of his own bag. Scott's head tilts slightly and his lips twitch up at the corners. He takes it as a good sign that Stiles is still happy to wear something that Scott bought him. He had meant it as a joke seeing as how it was knitted to look like a wolf, but Stiles still wore it the entire day anyway. 

Stiles must remember too as he glances from the scarf still in his hands over to Scott, something passing over his face for a second or two. Scott ducks his head, forcing himself to go back to searching through his bag for the gloves or hat that he packed. Anything that'll keep his eyes off of Stiles because he can sense him still looking at him and he knows he's been trying to pick the right time for them to talk about yesterday, but now he doesn't—

There's a click from the direction of the door and Scott's head snaps back up, already feeling his eyes starting to burn red. He's on his feet in a second, glancing at Stiles who's still in the same place as before but now staring at the door with wide eyes. 

"We didn't close that," he says, despite just stating the obvious.

Scott pulls on the handle and freezes. "We didn't lock it either." 

That has Stiles dropping the scarf back onto his bag and over by Scott's side in a second. He nudges his hand away, only to try the handle himself and a lot more forcefully than Scott did. No matter how much he pulls on it or tries to twist it, the door stays firmly closed. 

"Oh, this is not good," Stiles mutters. "In fact, this is really, really bad." 

"I could just break it," Scott suggests, eyeing the door. It wouldn't take that much effort thanks to the full moon only being a few hours away.

"I wouldn't try it," comes Lydia's voice from the other side. "This lodge is owned by the Argent's, remember?" 

Stiles makes a noise of exasperation as Scott closes his eyes. Now that he's listening, he can hear three heartbeats on the other side of the door, standing just outside the room. It's pretty obvious to him who the other two belong to.

"Did you seriously just lock us in a werewolf-proofed room?" Stiles asks incredulously. He adds, in a quieter voice, "I didn't even know these rooms had locks."

"There's obviously something going on between the two of you," Lydia says, ignoring Stiles. "Whatever it is, it's making you act weird around each other, and frankly, none of us can stand the awkward tension. We came here to get away from all of our problems, so you two are going to sort out whatever this one is, and then you can join us for skiing." 

Scott's head is spinning. He knew that everyone would pick up on it but he at least thought he would have the chance to get Stiles alone and talk to him about it before they resorted to something like this. 

"The full moon's less than twenty-four hours away, and you just locked up a werewolf and a human in an inescapable room," Stiles points out. "Not really your smartest idea, is it? So, how about you just unlock the door and let us out so that we can avoid any potential moon-driven murders, yeah?" 

As hurt as Scott wants to be by that, he can't help but agree with Stiles. He's already feeling the effects of it as it gets closer, and knowing he's now locked in isn't really doing much to help. He would never hurt Stiles, he knows that, but he doesn't even want to take the risk that he could get out of control because of being somewhere different. 

There's a pause on the other side and Scott strains his ears to listen as Stiles glances at him, raising his eyebrows questioningly. 

Then Kira speaks up, her voice quiet and slightly muffled as she asks, "are you sure about this?" 

"Yeah, I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Allison jumps in, the both of them sounding hesitant now that Stiles has made a good point about the full moon. 

"Well, I'll guess you'll just have to work things out quickly then," Lydia says, apparently not changing her mind. Though she does pause again then adds, "we'll be waiting downstairs until the two of you are back to your usual weird selves, so hurry up. We do want to go skiing today at some point."

"This isn't going to work," Scott tells them. He glances at Stiles, hesitating. "There's no point in locking us in here. There's nothing to talk about. You're just wasting your own time." 

Stiles looks at him now, his head tilting a little as he makes a thoughtful face. "Well, I wouldn't say nothing. They do have a point about us needing to talk." 

Scott stops, his eyebrows drawing together. "Wait, you actually agree? I thought you didn't want to talk about it? That's why you've been avoiding me?"

Stiles gestures at the door as he says, "clearly we need to because they've literally resorted to locking us up together to get us to talk to each other, which now that I'm saying it, I find absolutely unbelievable considering the last time we weren't talking to each other was because we were dealing with some psychotic supernatural thing. And it's not like they're going to just let us out because we say we're fine when we're clearly not." 

There's another pause. Scott's vaguely aware of the fact that the three girls are now slowly making their way downstairs, apparently having gotten what they wanted for now. 

"You're right," Scott says, nodding. He was the one who wanted to talk about it after all. Here's the perfect opportunity. And yet, now that he's actually faced with it and Stiles has said what he's been thinking since yesterday, he's taken a liking to Stiles' preferred method of dealing with these things. 

Stiles sighs, rubbing a hand over his face as he slides down the door. He keeps his face hidden as Scott slides down next to him and glances around, trying to figure out where they go from here now that it's been established that things really aren't okay between them. 

He leans his head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. Now that he's actually here with Stiles beside him, it's a lot harder to remember all of the things he had planned on saying once the opportunity to be alone came alone.

"Okay, so obviously we can't just keep pretending that we didn't kiss," Stiles starts, dropping his hands as he turns his head to look at him, and Scott's chest tightens so fast, still completely unprepared for this conversation. Stiles actually gives a noise halfway between a sigh and a laugh, almost sounding defeated. "I was going to say we got caught up in the moment but there's not really any point in that now, huh?"

Scott shakes his head, knowing he's right. "Guess not." 

Stiles' eyes move from the ground, up to his face, and back down, looking like he's thinking over his next words in his head. 

Scott decides to save him the trouble—save them both from having to drag this on longer than it needs to be when all it's doing is hurting them both. 

"I'm sorry," he says. He catches the surprise that flashes across Stiles' face, followed by confusion, but he doesn't pause to let him say anything. "I shouldn't have kissed you. If I'm honest, I — I just kept thinking about how much I wanted to, and you were right there, and the whole thing felt—"

"Like a scene out of one of those cheesy romance movies?" Stiles finishes for him, nodding slowly to himself, his eyes on the ground. Then they snap back up to meet Scott's. "Wait, what?" 

Scott sighs. It's now or never, really. He's imagined all the ways he could possibly tell Stiles about his feelings for him, though none of them were like this. 

"Exactly like one of those scenes. And I let it get into my head," he admits. "But I'm sorry. I know that you were just caught up in the moment and I should never have said I was sure when you asked because it's obvious that you weren't..."

He slowly trails off as he notices Stiles just staring at him. His lips are slightly parted like he's in shock and his eyes seem to be ten sizes too wide as he blinks slowly.

"What's wrong?" he asks warily, his heartbeat jumping as he worries that maybe confessing all of that wasn't a good idea and just ruined a possible salvageable situation. 

Stiles doesn't answer right away. He stays still for a second or three like he's actually frozen. Then he's looking at Scott like he's insane, which is unsurprisingly a look that Scott's become familiar with, but not in this particular situation which is exactly why it only makes him even more worried than he was a second ago. 

"Okay, gimme a second," Stiles says, waving his hands around as if trying to get Scott to slow down. His tongue swipes across his lower lip, then he continues. "You're apologizing to me?" 

Scott pauses. "Uh, yeah? I shouldn't—" 

"And you think that I was the one caught up in the moment?" he adds, but doesn't give Scott the time to answer. "And... just to clarify, because I think I might actually be losing my mind, you said you  _wanted_  to kiss me?" 

"Yeah," Scott quickly answers before he can say anything else. "Yeah, I — I did. But I shouldn't have let that take over like I did. It was wrong, especially since I know you don't feel that way about me and are most likely regretting it now. So," he sighs, and once again says, "I'm sorry." 

Stiles shakes his head, so slowly that Scott's heartbeat jumps again, his stomach swooping and twisting. Then he's huffing out a short, disbelieving sounding laugh that has Scott's eyebrows furrowing once more as he leans his head back against the door.

"I'm an idiot," he says, much to Scott's surprise and confusion. Then he's pointing at him. "Actually, we're both idiots." 

"What?" is all Scott can manage to get out, faintly wondering if this is some sort of side effect to shock. 

"Because somehow, even with those heightened senses of yours and the ability to literally be able to sniff out feelings, you couldn't tell that I was going out of my mind thinking that _I_  messed everything up by kissing you. I was ready to never speak of it ever again because I thought that if I did, you would tell me that it was a mistake and then everything really would be ruined because I can handle being rejected by you in my head, but in real life—" 

"Wait, you thought I was going to  _reject_  you?" Scott cuts him off in disbelief. 

Stiles stops, his rambling coming to a halt as he seems to think it over then shrugs. "Well, yeah. You weren't exactly eager to talk about what happened and Allison said you'd been acting weird. I was at least ninety-nine percent sure that as soon as we talked about it, this—" he gestures between the two of them vaguely, "—would be over." 

Scott can't help the smile that pulls at the corners of his mouth, a light laugh escaping. "That's funny. I thought the same thing with you."

Stiles scoffs like he's been insulted. "You seriously thought I would ever reject you? Really? So, you had absolutely no idea that I've been in love with you since we were  _ten_? Possibly longer, who knows, kids are bad at feelings." 

Scott shakes his head, his smile growing as Stiles' words sink in. His heartbeat's all over the place now and the swooping in his stomach is for an entirely different reason.

"And I'm guessing that means that you don't know I'm in love with you either then," Scott says. "Right?"

Judging by the way Stiles blinks a few times, his eyes wide as his mouth seems to fall open, he definitely didn't know. Scott really isn't sure how—somewhere in the back of his mind, he's always thought that some part of Stiles has known all along and just hasn't said anything. Apparently not. 

"So," Stiles starts slowly, "neither of us messed up by kissing each other because we both wanted to? Which means we've been acting all weird around each other since yesterday for... no reason? This really could have all just been fixed in five minutes by talking about it straight after?"

Scott pauses. "Wow, we really are both idiots."

"God yeah, we are. But, in all fairness," Stiles points at Scott again, "you did have the advantage of just being able to track my chemosignals to figure out what I was feeling, so really, you could have ended this a lot sooner." 

Scott scoffs and shoves his shoulder. "Shut up. This was your fault as well." 

Stiles shrugs but grins at him, which quickly turns into laughter. Scott can't help but join in, the ridiculousness of the whole situation fully hitting him now. It really could have been resolved so much faster had either of them stopped worrying for long enough to realize they weren't the only one. 

They just sit there as their laughter fades, settling into a comfortable silence. It's a relief that things feel so normal again; for a moment there, Scott really did think that wouldn't be possible. 

It's nice, and neither of them seems eager to ruin it in any way by saying anything. Scott doesn't mind though. He's happy to just enjoy sitting with Stiles for now, knowing that Lydia will be up to check on them soon, the sound of her voice floating up from downstairs. He just tunes it out. 

Then Stiles nudges his shoulder. Scott isn't too surprised; as much as Stiles seems to enjoy the silence some of the time, he isn't that great at being the one who keeps it that way. 

"Not to ruin this or anything, but..." he turns his head to look at him, chewing on his bottom lip, "what exactly does this mean? Because I totally get it if you don't — you know, that's totally okay. But, uh, I just mean because of everything we said — if you did, I obviously wouldn't be opposed, seeing as how—" 

"I can't tell if you're trying to ask me out or if you're asking me if I want to kiss you again," Scott says with a fond grin. 

Stiles' eyebrows go up, clearly thinking about it for a second or two. Then he shrugs and says, "let's go with both." 

Scott's grin widens as Stiles sends him one right back. Just the familiarity of it all is enough to send that warm feeling spreading through Scott's chest, moving throughout his limbs. 

"Then here's my answer to both," he says before he leans over to close the already small gap between them. There's another little surge of familiarity as he does thanks to yesterday, but this one's different, still new and strange.

Then his lips are on Stiles' for the second time, and the instant response as Stiles presses forward a little has his heart trying to leave his chest and his stomach becoming part of a circus act. He's vaguely aware of one of Stiles' hands moving up to the side of his neck, his fingers sliding around to the back like he's trying to pull him closer. All he can focus on though is the feel of his mouth moving against his, just as perfect as the first time, if not more. 

Stiles makes a quiet noise, muffled by Scott's mouth, then pulls back slightly. 

"That's a good answer," he says quietly. 

Scott laughs softly and opens his eyes to look at him. "I'm glad. I'm not sure how else I could have answered." 

Stiles raises his eyebrows. "Well..." 

Scott gives another laugh, mixed with a half-scoff this time as he pulls back, shaking his head. "You're unbelievable."

"I meant kiss me again, dumbass," Stiles says as his grin returns. "If you seriously thought that I would even imply that we have sex for the first time in what could possibly have been Gerard Argent's bed, then you're insane and need serious help." 

Scott rolls his eyes but ducks his head as his face heats up. He can't keep the smile off of his face as he glances back up at Stiles, still looking at him with a look of such fondness that Scott thinks that warm feeling in his chest might be turning his insides to lava in the best way possible. 

"Besides," Stiles adds, dropping his hand from Scott's neck in favour of giving him another light nudge, "we still have at least three people waiting downstairs for us to 'fix things' that we can go skiing. We probably shouldn't keep them waiting much longer or Lydia will be predicting two more deaths today. Either that or they'll think you really did kill me."

Scott raises his eyebrows as he lets the back of his head thud off the door, a wave of exhaustion just at the reminder of the full moon hitting him. "We're locked in, remember? We're only keeping them waiting because they haven't let us out yet. And we both know that even during a full moon I wouldn't hurt you. I promised you that after the first one."

Stiles' eyes soften as he sends him a different sort of smile, one that makes the buzzing in Scott's head that little bit quieter and easier to handle. One that's completely trusting. 

"I know, Scotty." Then his grin is back once more as he says, "but on the subject of us being locked in a werewolf-proofed room together, which frankly, I don't even think is a real thing. The girls seem to have forgotten one tiny little detail." 

Scott' eyebrows furrow and Stiles turns, pointing over at the window. The realization hits him and Scott grins now as well as Stiles turns back to him. 

"I already checked to see if there were locks on it, which there are not." Stiles pushes himself up and onto his feet, making his way over to the window. He taps on the glass as he seems to look down at whatever's outside, then back over at Scott with a smug sort of look on his face. "And not only that but just outside happens to be one of the balconies that go all the way around this place." 

Scott gets to his feet now as well and walks over to him, seeing where he's going with this. "Meaning we can get out of here whenever we want." 

Stiles nods. "Exactly." 

"Great. Let's go then," Scott says, shrugging as he moves to open the window. 

"Wait," Stiles stops him, gently grabbing his wrist as he moves a little to partially block the window. 

Scott looks up at him, his eyebrows raising in concern. He's guessing the sudden spike in the scent of anxiety isn't a coincidence, especially not with the way that Stiles is now glancing down, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he chews on his lip.

He sighs before Scott can ask him what's wrong, and lifts his eyes back up to meet Scott's. "I was just — I was just wondering if maybe... I mean, now that we're — we're together, right? As in, dating? Romantically?" 

Scott can't help but smile, a little out of amusement and a little out of happiness at hearing him say it and being able to nod as he does. "Yeah, Stiles. We're together. Romantically." 

A little bit of relief seems to wash over him at that confirmation. Then he's back to anxious as he continues. 

"Okay, well, I was just thinking that now that we're together — which I couldn't be happier about by the way, just in case you think I'm not. That is absolutely not what I'm saying. All I am saying — well, more like suggesting — is that..." he pauses as Scott's eyebrows go up a little further, and his shoulders slump like in defeat as he finishes, "maybe we don't tell anyone?" 

Scott blinks in surprise, his lips parting slightly to form an "oh." Stiles' eyes widen and he seems to take it as a bad sign, quickly trying to explain himself. 

"I just mean not right away. I mean, you know our friends," he says, and waves a hand around them as if to emphasize his point, which it definitely does. "I just think that maybe we should keep it to ourselves for a little while, to sort of... get the hang of things? Just because you saw what we were like after one kiss — our friends literally locked us in a room together because we would barely talk to each other. So I just think that while we're figuring out how this whole thing works, we should maybe—"

"Stiles," Scott cuts him off, his mouth curving up into a smile as he takes Stiles' hand in one of his own. "I think it's a good idea." Stiles is obviously relieved as he breathes out, nodding slightly. "We're pretty new to this after all. With each other, anyway. So, I agree. Telling everyone right away wouldn't be such a good idea." 

Stiles leans into him, giving his hand a light squeeze. "So, it's settled then. We'll wait. Just until we've figured things out."

Scott nods and can't stop himself from grinning as he adds, "let's just hope we're more discreet about this than we were about the kiss." 

Stiles makes a noise like a wounded animal, now leaning his head on Scott's shoulder. He gives a muffled, "we're doomed," and Scott laughs. Hopefully, he's not right about that. For once, things seem to be going right for them. It would be nice if they could stay that way. 

"Come on then," Scott says as Stiles lifts his head back up. He nods at the window and lets go of Stiles' hand. "Let's go let them know we're fine so that we can go skiing. They might change their mind and just go without us if we don't hurry up." 

"Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," Stiles mutters, but still turns around to face the window. 

He's in the middle of beginning to slide it up, the cold air already getting in and making Scott wonder if Lydia's excuse for getting them up here was genuine and if they really should grab warmer clothes when a click sounds throughout the room. 

Stiles freezes and Scott's eyes immediately go to the door, once again burning red out of instinct, feeling the tug of the full moon a little stronger. It quickly fades as he watches the door swing open and Lydia peers inside, spotting them and rolling her eyes at them. 

"You didn't need to try and escape through the window," she says as she crosses her arms. "I wasn't actually going to leave you locked in here for that long, as you can see. But should I take this to mean you haven't fixed whatever's going on between the two of you yet?" 

Scott glances at Stiles, the corners of his mouth twitching up as he notices the secretive glint in Stiles' eyes. He thinks he could get used to that, along with the sly little smile he shoots him. Keeping things a secret could actually be pretty interesting. So long as they don't screw up. 

He turns back to Lydia as she stares at the two of them expectantly. "No, we're all good now. I promise." 

"Yeah, never been better," Stiles jumps in, hooking his arm over Scott's shoulders like he always does. Except it feels different now, more like a secret shared between them. "So, since your little plan to have us kiss and make up worked, can we leave now?" 

Scott has to bite his lip as he ducks his head at Stiles' choice of words. 

Lydia rolls her eyes again as Scott looks back up at her, but she nods and steps to the side. "Well, you seem to be back to your weird selves, so yeah. If only because I'm fed up of waiting to go skiing at a ski resort." 

She goes to leave the room, but pauses, glancing back at them like there's something she wants to say. Her eyes meet Scott's and his heart jumps a beat, wondering if she's somehow already figured it out as her eyes narrow slightly. But whatever it is, she seems to change her mind and drops it. 

"Hurry up, okay?" is all she says, adding an extra, "and don't forget to grab something warmer than those," before walking out of the room and heading back down the stairs. 

Scott breathes out in relief then looks at Stiles. The grin he gets back in return is one of delight, clearly already enjoying this. Scott will admit, he is as well. Especially when Stiles leans in to quickly kiss him one more time before pulling away and doing as Lydia said, Scott doing the same. 

Then they follow after her, that little surge of adrenaline and excitement staying with Scott the entire time. This weekend's definitely looking a lot better now than it did just an hour ago.

\---------------------------

It turns out, spending an entire day pretending you aren't dating your best friend isn't that hard when you don't really have to change much. Stiles actually finds it hilarious how many subtle little glances and touches they snuck in right in front of their friends without one of them even batting an eye. In fact, Malia even made a comment about how she's glad they're back to normal since they were acting way too weird before. Normal for them really is just being so close that they seem like they're already dating. 

Still, that doesn't mean he isn't glad when they're finally back in the lodge and he's closing the bedroom door behind him. He and Scott decided it would be a good idea to come back a little earlier than everyone else, seeing as how the full moon's now barely a couple hours away and Scott's already starting to feel it. 

Stiles guesses it's a lot easier to keep control over it when he's able to think and rest rather than having to try and handle it while skiing. Or attempting to ski anyway; turns out, neither of them are that great at it, as shown by the many times they nearly went head first over their own feet and straight down the slope. Jackson and Isaac, of course, thought it was hilarious. Not that Stiles can really disagree with them on that.

The bathroom door opens and Stiles shifts over a little in the bed as he watches Scott make his way back over to him, now changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. Scott smiles as he slips back in next to him and moves closer, the distance between them yesterday long forgotten as Stiles drops his arms from where they were resting against the headboard behind his head. 

He brings his hands up to either side of Scott's neck as Scott leans in, unable to keep the smile off of his face, even when Scott's lips are on this. It's just knowing this is real, that all along, this was a possibility; he still hasn't quite gotten over the initial surprise and happiness of it all yet. He's not entirely sure he ever actually will, especially not if kissing Scott like this is something that he gets to do. 

Scott makes a quiet noise, sounding completely content as he pulls back. The look on his face—all soft and loving and possibly a little tired as the full moon shines brightly in the sky outside. It sends Stiles' heart somewhere across the room.

"You doing okay?" he asks quietly as Scott closes his eyes, leaning into one of his hands. 

He nods and takes a second before looking at him again and smiling. "Yeah. I'm perfect."

Stiles can't help the swooping in his stomach at the way he says it. He flashes a grin and jokingly says, "I wouldn't let Jackson hear you say that. He's supposed to be the only perfect one around here, remember?"

Scott laughs quietly, ducking his head as he nods again. He doesn't say anything but he doesn't need to either, the way he brings his hand up to rest on top of one of Stiles' saying enough. His fingers gently trail over the back of Stiles' hand in a way that's so familiar that Stiles is finally starting to see why no one noticed anything different between them earlier. 

This whole secret relationship thing is beginning to look a lot easier than he initially thought. Plus, it means that they get to take every opportunity that they're alone to be like this, and Stiles really like the thought of that. 

"We should probably get some sleep," he suggests, his own tiredness suddenly making an appearance. "You know, tomorrow's our last day here. We should try and fit in as much as possible, especially since the full moon will be over and you'll probably have more energy." 

"You don't sound so sure about that," Scott teases, grinning. Stiles just rolls his eyes and he slips his fingers underneath his palm, giving his hand a light squeeze. "You're right though. We could definitely use some sleep. I never thought skiing could be so tiring." 

"That's just because you've been tired since we got here," Stiles says, and Scott seems to agree as he drops his hand. "But tomorrow, we are absolutely exploring for definite since we haven't yet." 

Scott nods, smiling at him. "Absolutely." 

"Great. Now that we have that established, we're sleeping," Stiles says, already pulling back but only enough to properly settle down, sliding down a little as he gestures his head for Scott to do the same. "I missed you being an octopus last night since you decided to stay five feet away from me." 

"You were the one who kept moving away from me every time I tried to get close to you," Scott points out, but his smile stays in place as he moves down to lie next to him. 

"Yeah, yeah, we know, I'm an idiot, but I'm not anymore and I want your arms around me because I'm cold, alright? So," he waves a hand in the air as he rolls onto his side, facing away from him like usual, "work your werewolf-y magic and let's go to sleep."

He doesn't have to be looking at him to know that Scott's probably rolling his eyes. But then there's shifting behind him and followed by it is the familiar feel of Scott's chest pressed against his back. His mouth curves into a smile at the hand on his waist that ends up somewhere near his chest, Scott's arms pretty much wrapped around him within the space of two seconds. 

He's definitely glad that they've worked things out, and so quickly. The thought of spending another night on opposite ends of the bed because neither of them realized they were both feeling the same way is a painful one, and he's pretty sure he could have caved and just blurted everything out anyway. This way's better.

There's a brief pause, the room completely quiet. 

Then Stiles is rolling himself over, surprising Scott. He gets comfortable again, a warm, sort of more at ease feeling spreading through at him at being able to see Scott and cuddle into him a little more. He notices Scott's raised eyebrows and amused but questioning smile before he can close his eyes. 

"What? This is more comfortable," he lies, despite knowing Scott will see right through him. 

But Scott doesn't say anything about it. It's pretty obvious he prefers it this way as well as he simply presses forward a little, placing a light kiss to his lips, half-catching the corner of his mouth instead. It's still just as sweet and sends that little jolt through Stiles, having to remind himself that this is definitely real. 

After that, Scott settles back down, his eyes closing not long after. Stiles does the same, realizing how tired he really is from everything they did that day. It's not long before they're both soundly asleep, Stiles somehow managing to cuddle impossibly closer to Scott who doesn't let go of him once as Stiles dreams about secret relationships and snow and a few other weird things all combined together. 

\---------------------

Stiles is pleasantly surprised to be woken up in the usual way by Scott, starting out with the poke to his arm, then gently rubbing it as he whispers his name. He doesn't intentionally wait until Scott has to resort to the last option, but he's definitely not unhappy that he does when he realizes he's changing it up a little. 

He can't quite keep the smile off of his face as Scott's hand slides up his side, then back down, accompanied by a light kiss to his lips before his mouth moves down to his neck. If Scott didn't already guess he was awake, then he certainly does when he makes a quiet noise from somewhere at the back of his throat, tilting his head slightly in the hopes that he'll continue anyway.

"Someone's eager to speed up this relationship," he comments as Scott lifts his head to look at him with a sly grin that he's only seen a handful of times. "Usually you wait a few weeks until you start waking each other up like this." 

Scott raises his eyebrows, his head tilting. "We've woken each other up in weirder ways before. I think we sort of skipped the easing into things part, don't you?" 

Stiles pauses, then says, "yeah, okay, fair point. And for the record, I'm not complaining if you want to do that every morning. You just might have a harder time getting me out of bed." 

Scott bites his lip and leans in a little closer. "Fine by me."

"Okay, you are definitely way more awake and into this than you were yesterday and I love it," Stiles says, pulling him even closer. "We should absolutely cancel our plans for today and just stay here forever." 

He kisses Scott before he can respond, delighting just a little in the way his mouth curves into a smile against his lips. It doesn't last as long as he wants it to as Scott pulls back again, already sending him that look that he's become too used to, especially in the last few days they've been here. 

"We're not canceling anything," he says, and Stiles rolls his eyes. "That would definitely make everyone suspicious. Besides, there's still a lot we haven't done here yet. It'll be fun." 

"You know what else would be fun?" Stiles says as Scott rolls off of him and he props himself up on his arms. "Staying here. Just the two of us. You know, just so we could really figure out this whole relationship thing—" 

"I would say we've already got a pretty good handle on it." Scott grins. "Nice try, though." 

Stiles groans and drops back down, his head hitting the pillows. He already knew there was no chance of that working; all of the many times he's tried to convince Scott that going to school isn't as fun as staying home or going along with whatever new idea he has has made that pretty obvious. 

Scott pats his leg then gets up from the bed, moving towards the bathroom. "Come on, everyone else is getting up. We should get downstairs before they're ready to head up to the resort." 

"Okay, fine," Stiles sighs, but pushes himself back up and swings his legs out of the bed as Scott pauses in the doorway, "but just so you know, if any of our plans today don't involve the hot tub, I'm not leaving today. I refuse to leave this place without haven't been in it for at least five minutes." 

Scott rolls his eyes and grins. "I can guarantee you that it involves the hot tub. But to get there, we actually need to get downstairs, so—" 

"Alright, alright, I get it," Stiles waves his hands at him like he's shooing him, "go. I'll meet you downstairs." 

Scott nods then disappears into the bathroom, the door clicking shut behind him. Stiles quickly gets dressed, nearly falling over while trying to put his jeans on due to hearing someone talking outside the room. They pass by though and he finishes getting ready. 

It's not until he's about to open the bedroom door to go downstairs and join whoever else is awake while they wait when something crosses his mind. He quickly backtracks, wondering if it's worth asking about right now seeing as how things went pretty smoothly yesterday.

Still, it might be a good idea to just make sure they're both still on the same page. In case Scott's changed his mind or needs reminding. It's mainly just to satisfy Stiles' anxiety that's now telling him that if he doesn't mention it again before they go downstairs then something will go wrong, but he still walks back over to the bathroom and knocks on the door. 

He isn't expecting Scott to open the door, already fully dressed. He leans against the frame with one arm, his eyebrows raising as he does that thing where he sucks his bottom lip in. 

"I know we talked about this yesterday," Stiles starts, "but I just wanted to make sure we both still agree on the whole secret aspect of this relationship. Just to make sure that when we go downstairs, we don't slip up or anything. I know that things went okay yesterday, but you never know — I'm just making sure we both still understand that—" 

"Stiles," Scott cuts him off, and he's really starting to see a pattern every time he starts rambling. 

He fully walks out of the bathroom now, standing in front of Stiles with a smile that has him swallowing and hoping that he isn't listening to his heartbeat. Scott's the one sliding his hands up to either side of Stiles' neck now and he's never realized before how much he wants this. 

"We're absolutely still on the same page, okay?" he says. "When we're with anyone else, we're just friends."

He rubs his thumb in a gentle circle just under his jaw and weirdly enough, it helps Stiles focus a little more on what he's saying rather than the anxiety still twisting away in his stomach. He nods, a little more reassured this time.

It's not that he doesn't want people to know they're together, it's just... he wants to be able to get used to it and have them be able to take their time with things before anyone finds out. Just have this to themselves for a little while. Scott seems to understand perfectly and agree with him, which makes him feel a lot happier about it. 

"Now, can we go?" Scott asks, still smiling, and Stiles nods again. He leans in, tilting his head just a little as he places a soft, slow, and reassuring kiss to his lips. When he pulls back again, it's barely by much, and only to quietly add, "starting now, we're just friends. At least, in front of everyone else, anyway."

Stiles can't keep the grin off of his face even as Scott pulls away completely and opens the bedroom door. He follows his lead and they both walk out of the bedroom, heading down the hallway towards the stairs. There are already faint voices floating up from somewhere, meaning at least a few of the others are already awake as well. 

Stiles glances at Scott when they reach the bottom of the stairs, his heartbeat jumping around now. But as soon as Scott's eyes meet his, he feels a little more at ease, and he can't resist winking at him, that secretive little glint already in Scott's eyes. 

Scott grins right back at him in response, then nods his head in the direction of where the voices are coming from. Then they're walking towards them and joining most of their friends in the lounge, all of them spread out on the sofas and chairs and seeming so content and weirdly peaceful. Maybe this weekend really was exactly what they all needed. Stiles is definitely sure that he and Scott needed it, if only to give them that last little push. 

"Good morning," Stiles says as he walks further in, causing them all to look over at him and then Scott. He grins as Lydia's head pops up from one of the chairs, still looking half asleep. "I see we're the only ones who aren't zombified this morning. What's wrong? The coffee machine stop working?"

Lydia rolls her eyes as he perches on the arm of the chair. "Not all of us are as cheerful as you in the morning." She hugs her arms a little tighter around herself as she adds, "especially not when it feels like the north pole in here."

"It's not that cold," Stiles says, shrugging, which only earns him a glare from Lydia. He puts his hands up and stands back up, moving away from the chair. "Alright, must just be me then."

"It is pretty cold in here," Scott agrees from where he's taken a seat on the bay window. 

"Thank you," Lydia says, waving a hand at him. "I can't be the only one who's freezing." 

Stiles hums, putting on a thoughtful look as he walks backwards slowly. "Maybe you have a cold." 

Lydia narrows her eyes at him but she doesn't say anything and he gets the feeling he's right. He grins but opts for staying quiet on his little victory, deciding it's probably not a good idea to get on the wrong side of a sick Lydia.

Allison agrees with him though as he glances around then heads over to join Scott on the bay window. This is their last day here after all and they haven't really had a chance to fully appreciate having a bay window around like they used to want. It would just be a shame to waste the opportunity. 

"I think at this point, we're all going to end up sick," Allison says, then glances at Scott and Malia and adds, "well, not all of us." 

"The full moon last night was as close as we'll get," Scott says as Stiles sits down beside him.

He looks at him as the others agree before the subject's quickly changed to something else that Stiles doesn't quite catch. Stiles just shoots him a mischievous smile and Scott gives a little shake of his head but does nothing to really hide his own smile as he looks away, listening to what Malia's saying. 

Stiles does the same as he brings his legs up and stretches them across Scott's lap. Considering Scott doesn't shoot him that look that tells him he's about to step over a line, he assumes it's okay and leans back, his head against the wall. 

When it seems like the others are too distracted to pay attention to them, Stiles notices Scott lean his head a little closer, keeping his eyes where they are.

"You do know you're wearing one of my hoodies, right?" he asks quietly, his mouth twitching up at the corners. 

Stiles glances down at himself. He hadn't actually noticed until now but he's right. He had just grabbed the first thing he found without really thinking. 

He looks back up at Scott and shrugs. "Oh well. It's comfy. And no one else has noticed, so you're not getting it back until tomorrow." 

Scott's eyes dart to him and Stiles flashes him a grin. He shakes his head at him again but he's got that smile on his face that Stiles has always thought was way too adorable to be allowed and still does. Except now it's got this sort of secretiveness to it, like it's only meant for Stiles to understand. That only makes him love it even more. 

Scott's gaze lingers for a second or two more, then he's tearing it away and focusing back on their friends once more. As if to make up for it though, he rests his hands on Stiles' legs, rubbing slowly so as not to draw anyone's attention. Although, they both know that even if they did, it wouldn't look that out of the ordinary for them. One of the upsides to usually being so close and touching each other at pretty much every opportunity they get. No one even bats an eye anymore, which only makes this whole secret relationship so much more fun for the both of them. 

\------------------------------

At first, Scott wasn't sure that he and Stiles could actually pull off the whole secret relationship thing, especially because of how they reacted after one kiss. But so far, they're doing surprisingly well, and he has to say, it's definitely a lot less difficult than he thought it would be. 

Though, admittedly, now that he knows Stiles definitely doesn't have a problem with their usual touching, he does find it at least a little hard to not be obvious about it and force himself to stick to the usual subtle little things that no one seems to notice or care about if they do. 

It's pretty obvious that Stiles is enjoying himself though if the glances and winks and secretive little smile he keeps sending his way every so often are anything to go by. Not that he's complaining. 

They're finally at the hot tub that Stiles has been going on about, having decided to leave it until last, the sky now dark and the snow no more than a few white dots here and there. They have less than three hours until they have to leave, so relaxing for the time they have left sounded pretty appealing to all of them, even Jackson and Isaac. 

"This has to be the best hot tub I've ever seen," Kira says, her eyes wide as she stares at it, not getting in quite yet. 

They somehow managed to pick the perfect time to come up to it since there's no one else in sight, meaning that they have it all to themselves for the time being. Lydia, Jackson, and Isaac are obviously making the best of it seeing as how they got in as soon as they were changed and out of the showers. 

"It's not as good as the one I have back home, but it's not bad," Jackson says, his arms stretched out over the edge of it behind him. 

Scott definitely isn't the only one who rolls his eyes. He ignores the comment though as he moves over to the railing going all the way around the little sheltered outdoor area they're on, stopping them from potentially falling down into the cluster of trees underneath them. 

Isaac doesn't seem to have the same self-control, or maybe he just doesn't care as Scott hears him shoot back with, "you mean the one your parents have and that you got yourself grounded from using for a year because of that party in the summer?"

A few of the others laugh as Scott leans his arms on the railing. It's surprisingly peaceful up here, at the very top of the resort. Maybe it's just because everyone else is more interested in ice skating or skiing or the other activities going on. He's just happy to enjoy the quiet.

Plus, the view from where they are is so much better than the rest of the places they've explored throughout the resort and even the lodge. Although, the balcony leading to a "secret door" that really was just another way out of the lodge that Stiles finally dragged him away to investigate earlier definitely had a pretty good view as well. 

He's aware of Stiles joining him at his side even without turning to look at him. He's a little closer than necessary but Scott doesn't mind as their shoulders touch. 

Stiles gives him a little nudge. "Thinking about anything interesting or just staring into the distance in the hopes that you'll suddenly develop the ability to teleport?" 

Scott laughs and answers, "definitely hoping I can teleport. We still have a seven-hour drive back home tonight that I'm not looking forward to. Especially if it starts snowing like it has been since we got here." 

"Well, I'm going to be the one driving, so let me worry about that," Stiles says.

Scott looks at him now, raising his eyebrows. Stiles rolls his eyes but seems to agree even without Scott having to say anything. 

"Okay, yeah, so not the most reassuring thing I've ever said." Scott grins, ducking his head. "But it'll be fine." 

He even gives him another little nudge as if to make sure he believes him, despite the uncertainty in his own voice. Scott isn't that worried about it though. They've probably driven through worse weather what with the number of emergency trips they've all had to make during supernatural storms. 

If anything, he just can't wait until it's over so that they're home. He never thought of himself as someone to get homesick, but he's never really been away from home long enough to know now that he's thinking about it. 

"I bet my dad and your mom are enjoying the peace and quiet of not having us around," Stiles jokes, as if able to read his mind. "They'll be savouring every last second. Like we should be doing in the hot tub right behind us where all of our friends are." 

Scott smiles and eyes him up and down slightly. "You're not exactly dressed to get in. You know that most people tend to take their t-shirts off when they get in hot tubs, right?" 

Stiles rolls his eyes again. "Yes, I'm aware of that, thank you. And if you know anything about me, then you know that there's more chance of me going over there and making out with Jackson than there is of me taking my t-shirt off right now."

"So, are you just... not gonna get in?" Scott asks, his lips twitching up at the corners. 

"Of course I'm getting in," Stiles says like it should be obvious. He waves a hand at Scott. "Once you do. You still have a rather significant amount of clothing on as well if you haven't noticed." 

"Now who's the one speeding up this relationship?" Scott teases, lowering his voice a little as he casts a cautious glance over his shoulder. Fortunately, all of their friends appear to be too distracted to hear him.

Stiles makes an exasperated noise but it's quickly followed by a grin as he shoves Scott's shoulder. 

"Shut up and either get in this hot tub with me or we'll stand here for the next three hours or so." He raises his eyebrows at him. "Which will it be?" 

Scott pretends to think about, if only to see the look on Stiles' face as he hums and glances from their friends, back out to the view in front of them. He gives in and grins, straightening up and slipping his t-shirt off. 

"Come on then," he says, and Stiles grins right back at him as he quickly follows his lead before they both head back over to join everyone else. 

Scott climbs into the oversized tub, slipping in beside Malia. The warmth of the water's actually a lot more relaxing than he was expecting it to be and even begins to slowly soothe some of the aching left behind from the full moon. He leans back a little against it, getting a little more comfortable. 

Then he tips his head back slightly, twisting it around to look at Stiles expectantly as he stays where he is. He doesn't even need to say anything, just catches his bottom lip between his teeth and pulls the puppy-dog eyes. Stiles is rolling his eyes and sighing quietly but joining him in a second. 

"Asshole," he mutters as he settles down next to Scott, Kira on his other side. 

Scott subtly leans over, not enough for anyone to notice if they looked over but enough to be able to lower his voice again and say, "you love me, really." 

Stiles glares at him but there's no bite behind it whatsoever and the effect's ruined as soon as Scott notices his mouth curving up. 

"Doesn't make you any less of an asshole."

Scott doesn't say anything else, but he doesn't need to as Stiles leaves it at that, discreetly shifting maybe just a little bit closer. Not that anyone notices or needs to know that. Just like no one needs to know that Scott stretching one of his arms over the edge of the tub is just so that he can trail his fingers over the back of Stiles' shoulder. 

If no one questions it, then they're getting away with it, and so there's no need to ruin that. 

 _It's absolutely worth it,_  Scott thinks, enjoying the way that Stiles glances at him when he begins tracing the outline of his shoulder blade, his fingers moving up and down his skin, keeping his touch light and careful. He has to bite his lip to stop himself from grinning purely out of satisfaction of being able to hear Stiles' heartbeat jumping around all over the place. 

And yet, still, no one notices. Scott is more than happy to keep it that way, and clearly so is Stiles. They both just join their friends in the conversation they're having about something or other, all while keeping up their little charade and also testing the limits just a little as the hours go past. 

Before long, they're leaving, grabbing their stuff on the way as they head for the car park, their weekend officially coming to an end. None of them are complaining that much about it though, having had a pretty good time but leaving them ready to go home, get back to their normal lives. Or in their case, as normal as life can be in Beacon Hills. 

The only real complaints are about the walk from the lodge as the temperature seems to have dropped straight back down. Somehow it feels like it takes longer to find their way back to the car park than it did when they arrived. 

Still, they manage to get there and find the jeep, along with Allison's and Jackson's cars. 

For a minute or two, Scott—and everyone else—worries that the jeep isn't going to start. It gives a little sputter like it usually does, though it sounds somewhat more concerning. Almost like it has a cold. 

"It'll be fine," Stiles assures them as he hops back out and closes the door, the jeep continuing to make a few noises. 

Scott and Allison both raise their eyebrows, exchanging an uncertain glance. He wonders if it's too late to call someone for help if they can't get it to start or it cuts out on them. 

"I'm telling you, it does this all the time in the cold," Stiles tells them.

He stops in front of it and gives the bonnet a rather forceful pat as if to prove his point. There's a pause as he seems to be waiting for something and Scott's hope that he's right quickly diminishes. 

Then the wheezing noise stops, replaced by the engine coming to life. A second later and the headlights go on without any warning. Stiles grins and throws his hands up. 

"See? What did I tell you?" He moves over to where Scott and Allison are standing with some of the bags. "You just have to faith in her and she'll come through. She's never technically let me down."

Scott can actually think of many times that the jeep has let them down, most of them during an emergency. He decides not to say anything about that though, seeing as how it seems to be working now. Hopefully it stays that way at least long enough for them to get home. He's doubting it will, but he's choosing to stay optimistic. 

"Can we please hurry up and get in so that we can leave before we freeze to death out here?" Lydia asks, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as she stays huddled in her jacket and scarf, glancing around.

Allison nods at her car and pulls one of the bags a little further up her shoulder. "Yeah, come on. Let's get it started up."

Lydia gladly and quickly takes her own bags and helps Allison as they get into her ca. Malia and Kira hang back, just in case, while Isaac and Jackson are already loading their bags into Jackson's car, nearly done and ready to go. 

Stiles reaches out, grabbing the strap of the bag that Scott's holding and takes it from him.

"This should be a fun drive," he says, clearly being at least a little sarcastic as he glances up at the dark sky. 

"It'll be fine," Scott says, grinning as Stiles rolls his eyes at him echoing his own words. "I'm sure it'll be quicker on the way back than it was getting here. It usually is." 

He picks up the last bag and follows Stiles around to the side of the jeep. 

"Scott, it's seven hours," Stiles says as he opens the back door and throws the bag onto the backseats. He turns back around to face him, taking the bag from his hands again. "In the dark. Possibly while snowing, the jury's still out on that one." 

Scott knows he has a point but considering Stiles is back to being the more pessimistic of the two of them, he'd rather stick with having at least some hope that they'll get home without any problems. He watches Stiles toss the other bag into the jeep with the other one before closing the door.

"It'll be fine," he repeats, forcing his voice to sound more convincing this time. 

Surprisingly, it seems to work as a little bit of the anxious tension in Stiles' shoulders leaves and he sighs as he looks at him. He's got that soft little smile that isn't quite all there and is a little lopsided on his face, telling Scott that he's still going to stress over it until they're back in Beacon Hills and safely home, but that he trusts him when he says it'll be fine. 

Stiles turns his head one way, then the other, craning his neck slightly. Scott's eyebrows draw together, but before he can ask what he's doing, Stiles turns back to him and reaches up, quickly pulling him in closer with a hand on either side of his neck. 

It clicks in Scott's head a second before Stiles' lips are on his, giving him enough time to kiss back as he tries not to smile. It seems to be a habit now every time Stiles does it and catches him by surprise, or even when he does give him warning. There's just something about kissing Stiles when he never thought he would be able to before two days ago that makes it hard to keep the smile off his face. 

He brings his hands up to either one of Stiles', slipping his fingers under his palms and gently moving them away from his neck. He doesn't let go of them right away though, not even as Stiles pulls back. 

"I guess you're right," he says, a grin tugging at his lips. 

Scott's head tilts a little and Stiles gives his hands a gentle squeeze. 

"The drive back won't be so bad. I mean, how could it be? The two of us in a car together for seven hours? And both very much awake since there's no full moon making us go all tired and fall asleep halfway through the drive." 

Scott's definitely smiling now as Stiles raises his eyebrows pointedly but can't quite seem to take himself all that seriously either. 

"Yeah, it'll be great," Scott agrees. 

He's the one holding Stiles' hands a little tighter now, but just for a second before he lets go of them completely, aware that their friends are nearly done getting everything ready and could very easily spot them just by glancing over.

Stiles seems to understand and suddenly there's that secretive look back on his face as he bites his lip. He winks, like a silent message meant only for him. 

Scott really is in love with him and has fallen so hard, he knows it and has since he first realized his feelings for him. This is just a little more proof of that. And he couldn't be happier about it as they all finish getting everything ready to go before getting into their respective rides, finally ready to go home. 

Settling himself in the passenger seat of the car, Scott glances out the window as they wait for Allison to pull away first. He can't help but turn his head, letting it rest back against the headrest as his gaze shifts to Stiles, watching him tap the steering wheel as he chews on his lower lip, obviously watching Allison's car in front of them. 

He must notice Scott staring at him out of the corner of his eye because he looks over at him. All Scott can do is smile, the only three words coming to mind replaying over and over again in his head. He's not sure if Stiles understands from just a look and a smile, but it feels like he does based on the softness of his eyes and the smile he sends right back at him. 

Taking a small risk, Stiles picks up one of Scott's hands, pressing a light kiss to the back of it. Scott's pretty sure Stiles understands perfectly what he's thinking, and that was enough to let him know he's thinking the exact same thing. 

Then his eyes are focuses back outside of the windscreen and he's pushing the jeep in action, finally able to pull out of the parking lot. He doesn't let go of Scott's hand for the first few minutes, and Scott doesn't look away from him that entire time either. 

It weirdly feels like the perfect ending to their weekend. He and Stiles are together, which is something he genuinely never thought was even a possibility. Even if no one else knows, Scott couldn't be happier about the whole thing. He loves Stiles, and apparently, he's somehow never realized that Stiles loves him right back. 

So, really, the kiss that they had both nearly went out of their minds worrying had messed everything up was exactly what they needed. Their last little push. Stiles definitely won't have to try very hard to get him to go ice skating again, that's for sure. 


End file.
